De La Soul's Trugoy the Dove Dead at 54 Years Old
Confirmed by the trio’s representative.
Trugoy the Dove, co-founder of hip-hop trio De La Soul, has died. He was 54 years old.
A rep for De La Soul confirmed the news to Rolling Stone but did not reveal a cause of death. Trugoy was open about his health problems in the past, however, and has publicly spoken about his fight with congestive heart failure in recent years.
Trugoy, real name David Jude Jolicoeur, formed De La Sou in Long Island in 1988 with Vincent Mason and Kelvin Mercer, better known as Maseo and Posdnuos. The group released their debut album 3 Feet High and Rising in 1989 and went on to release another eight albums after that, as well as win a GRAMMY and receive five additional nominations.
In August 2021, it was announced that De La Soul finally had ownership of their masters following a lengthy legal battle. The trio confirmed in January this year that their full catalog will be made available on both streaming services and digital retailers for the first time in history, with “The Magic Number” hitting streamers shortly after.
May Trugoy the Dove rest in peace.
