Bumping the 50 State Strategy until tomorrow night to pay respects to Kenny Rankin.

AP:

Kenny Rankin, a brilliant pop vocalist and highly regarded musician-songwriter whose stylings ranged from jazz to pop to the world music influences he picked up as a child in New York, has died of complications related to lung cancer, his record company announced Monday. He was 69.

Rankin died Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Mack Avenue Records spokesman Don Lucoff said.

UPDATE:

John Amato:

I just found out about his death a little while ago and I'm stunned. I met Kenny about 12 years ago and he was a really nice guy. He had an angelic voice that seemed almost impossible for a man of his size to produce. I saw him play at the Catalina a few weeks after we met and he was incredible. I never had the honor of playing with him, but one time about four years ago he asked me to bring my flute to sit in with him (after he heard me play with some friends) at the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles and I couldn't make it. What a treat it would have been for me to jam with just him and his guitar. And it's a loss I can never make up.

We'll miss you Kenny. You brought a lot of joy to the world with your incredible voice and heart. RIP...