Longtime Cleveland radio personality Lynn Tolliver passed away Sunday after battling an undisclosed illness.
As reported by Cleveland 19, Tolliver was credited with putting the rhythm-and-blues station WZAK on the map in the 1980s, and worked at the station until the early 2000s.
Here’s more from the outlet:
While at WZAK, he hosted the shows “Three’s Company” and “Just the Two of Us.” After leaving the station, Tolliver started his own online radio station, Radio 9311, where he continued to host and promote R&B music. He was also a songwriter of tunes like “I Need a Freak,” in 1983.
In 2011, Tolliver won a $1.2 million lawsuit against the Black Eyed Peas for copyright infringement, when the band sampled “I Need a Freak” in their hit song, “My Humps.” More recently, Kanye West had sampled another song that Lynn Tolliver wrote, “Extacy,” for one of his tracks.
Tolliver’s death was reported online by former colleagues and business associates. He was 71.
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As reported by WKSU, Tolliver was nearly killed in a shooting during a robbery at the station in 1985. The crime has never been solved.
In 2000, he was the first Black recipient of the Cleveland Association of Broadcasters’ Excellence in Broadcasting award.
In a Facebook post announcing his death, 93.1 WZAK Cleveland wrote, “Tolliver arrived at WZAK in May of 1982 shortly after the station had adopted a black-oriented urban contemporary format. Lynn landed in Cleveland after a successful track record at MCA Records in Detroit.”
“His influence on the radio industry is just, the way he did things was so different from everybody else in the country. I think he showed people the way to do radio to where it would bring everybody in,” his nephew Dave Tolliver said.
R.I.P. Lynn Tolliver @TolliverPayton of Sexual Harrassment. In 1982, he recorded “I Need a Freak” a quirky-yet-lurid electro funk jam. Tolliver’s sly provacateurship is best captured by the quote: “It’s funny – without sex, mankind is dead, yet we hide the very thing we need.” pic.twitter.com/o522IEvFOW
— Dark Entries Records (@darkentriesrecs) February 14, 2022
“Known for outrageous stunts, Lynn didn’t disappoint. He had listeners come down to the station wearing underwear on their heads to win prizes and in another contest, he offered prizes for the biggest cockroach,” said the Cleveland Association of Broadcasters.
As reported by News 5 Cleveland, in an article announcing his death, WZAK wrote: “To the city of Cleveland and surrounding areas, Lynn Tolliver was our Tom Joyner, Rickey Smiley, Wendy Williams, Angie Martinez before we even heard of these names, Lynn Tolliver was our Breakfast Club, our Morning Hustle in a time before the internet and social media. Fans until the time of Lynn Tolliver’s passing regarded him nothing less then a Rock Star however Lynn Tolliver was all quick to say to those that reacted to him that way, ‘hey I’m just a regular guy.”
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