Photo: Cola Boyy | Matthew Joseph Urango (February 14, 1990 – March 17, 2024), known professionally as Cola Boyy, was an American musician and activist based in Oxnard, California. His music has been described as belonging to the disco genre. NME compared his sound to “a disco ball melting or the after-effects of some particularly potent hallucinogenics”.
His debut EP, Black Boogie Neon, was released in 2018. His debut album, Prosthetic Boombox, was released in 2021. Urango toured and collaborated with MGMT.
Early life
Urango was born with spina bifida, kyphosis, and scoliosis, as well as a club foot to a white mother and a father of Chumash, African-American, and Mexican ancestry. He described himself as Afro-Latino. Urango had a non-disabled twin brother.
Urango described himself as having “basically taught myself” to play piano at his grandmother’s house as a child. In high school he played in punk bands, playing his first backyard show aged 17. After graduating from high school, he searched for work but experienced discrimination due to his disability. He was employed for a time at Walmart until he was hospitalized with pneumonia due to being pushed to overwork by his employer. Before Cola Boyy, Urango played second guitar for indie pop band Sea Lions.
Music career
Cola Boyy released the single “Penny Girl” in July 2018. The track was ranked #72 in Fader Magazine’s “100 best songs of 2018”.
In August 2018, “Buggy Tip” premiered on Vice’s Noisey.
Cola Boyy released his debut EP, Black Boogie Neon, in September 2018. The EP includes earlier releases “Penny Girl” and “Buggy Tip”. The name of the EP comes from an early demo track about a fictional club of the same name where disabled people can enjoy themselves free from ableist stigma. In the video for “Beige 70”, filmed at the real-life Le Peripate club in Paris, Urango is portrayed in this club as a part of a diverse cast of club-goers. Explaining the song’s meaning, Urango said: “It’s a love song about a girl at a club whose clothes are shabby and her friends are making fun of her, but it doesn’t matter to me because she’s a star. It’s about being judged and accepted.”
In 2019, Cola Boyy performed at Pitchfork Paris. In April 2021, he released the single “Kid Born in Space”, featuring MGMT.[ Urango explained that the song is about his experience growing up as a disabled person.
The debut Cola Boyy album, Prosthetic Boombox, was released by the French label Record Makers in June 2021. The album features appearances from Nicolas Godin of Air and Andrew VanWyngarden. Paste gave the album a positive review, describing it as “an electrifying, catchy and colorful debut”. The Guardian gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, describing the record as a “delirious blast of disco, funk, house and psychedelia”.
Activism
Multiple features about Cola Boyy as a musician have made reference to his left-wing activism, which he became involved in around the time he began making music as Cola Boyy. Urango became politicized after participating in a radical reading group that he was invited to by a friend. Since then he has organized with Todo Poder Al Pueblo, a collective that advocates for immigrants and workers in Urango’s home city of Oxnard. He was also a member of APOC (Anarchist People of Color), which helps to organize free punk rock concerts accessible to all ages.
Urango stated that he wanted to convey his anti-capitalist political views through his music, but opted to forgo the more traditional medium of punk rock in order to reach a wider audience.
Urango died on March 17, 2024, at his Oxnard home at the age of 34.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cola_Boyy
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OTHER NOTABLE MUSICIANS’ DEATHS
From Dr. Annette Cannon: Loving reminder. Since it is the Spring Season, and we know this is a very difficult time for some, try and make a connection, if not for yourself, then perhaps for someone else. One of the risks for suicide is social isolation, and there’s scientific evidence for reducing suicide risk by making sure we connect with one another. We don’t always know who is struggling, but we do know that one conversation could save a life.
If you are thinking of committing suicide, please think of how much it will hurt your family and friends, and maybe cause them a whole lot of trouble and financial problems. Warning Signs of Suicide – National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 and 888-628-9454 for Spanish. Learn the signs of someone who may be contemplating suicide.
If you want to know more about any of the musicians we lost, please check them out at http://www.wikipedia.com
March 2024
20: George Darko, 73, Ghanaian burger-highlife musician.
19: Greg Lee, 53, American singer (Hepcat), cardiac arrest and massive brain aneurysm.
18: Khalid, 60, Bangladeshi singer, heart attack; Chavelita Pinzón, 93, Panamanian folklorist and singer.
17: Mile Agatonovic Aga, 75, Serbian singer; Cola Boyy, 34, American musician; Sandra Crouch, 81, American gospel singer, Grammy winner (1984), and minister; Steve Harley, 73, English musician (Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel), songwriter (“Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)”, “Mr. Soft”) and producer, cancer.
16: Ernest Bryll, 89, Polish poet, journalist and lyricist.
15: Hans Blum, 95, German singer-songwriter (“Primaballerina”).
14: Lamara Chkonia, 93, Georgian operatic soprano; Frank Darcel, 65, French guitarist (Marquis de Sade); Byron Janis*, 95, American classical pianist; Jean-Pierre Marty, 91, French pianist and conductor; Angela McCluskey, 64, Scottish singer (Wild Colonials) and songwriter (“Breathe”).
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byron_Janis
13: Dick Allix, 78, British drummer (Vanity Fare) and darts official; John Blunt, British drummer (The Searchers); Sylvain Luc, 58, French jazz guitarist; Sadi Mohammad, 66, Bangladeshi singer and composer, suicide by hanging; Aribert Reimann, 88, German composer (Lear, Medea), pianist and accompanist.
12: Michael Knott, 61, American singer-songwriter (Lifesavers Underground); James Whitbourn, 60, British composer and conductor, cancer; Russ Wilson, 62, Canadian bass guitarist (Junkhouse).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_in_2024
Photo: Cola Boyy | From his Facebook page
Cola Boyy, American Un-Disabled Musician and Activist, Dies at 34 // Other Notable Musicians’ Deaths
