He was known as the soul man of G-funk, and before his first album had ever been released,
Nate Dogg made appearances on several huge hits: "Regulate" with
Warren G,
2Pac's
All Eyez on Me, and the soundtrack to Murder Was the Case. The cousin of
Snoop Dogg,
Nate grew up in Long Beach, and began working with
Warren early in the '90s. By 1994, the duo hit number two on the pop charts with "Regulate," from the soundtrack to Above the Rim. The two later severed their relationship, with
Warren going on to multi-platinum success.
Nate scored again in 1996 with "Never Leave Me Alone," featuring
Snoop, and released his debut album,
G-Funk Classics, Vols. 1 & 2, early the following year on Interscope.
Nate subsequently garnered praise for his guest work on hits such as
Ludacris’ "Area Codes" and
Fabolous’ "I Can’t Deny It," and in 2001 he finally issued an album that many deemed worthy of his talent,
Music & Me, released by Elektra. However, later in the new millennium
Nate Dogg suffered from a pair of strokes -- one in December 2007 and another in September 2008 -- the first of which left him partially paralyzed. On March 15, 2011 he died of congestive heart failure in Long Beach;
Nate Dogg was 41 years old. ~ John Bush