Robert Power (April 5, 1952 – March 1, 2026) was an American record producer, audio engineer, composer, arranger, performer and music educator.
Some of Power's most notable engineering credits include A Tribe Called Quest's The Low End Theory, De La Soul's De La Soul Is Dead, Erykah Badu's Baduizm, and D'Angelo's Brown Sugar.
Early life Power was born on April 5, 1952 in Chicago, moved to Rye, New York, then moved to St. Louis, Missouri. He started playing guitar as a young child after his sister got one, attended Webster College, where he studied music theory and composition and joined an R&B band called the New Direction; after college, he moved to San Francisco and immersed himself in jazz.
He also studied classical composition and conducting, alongside playing his own contemporary music. He subsequently obtained a master's degree in jazz from Lone Mountain College (since acquired by University of San Francisco) in San Francisco.
Career Power stayed in California between 1975 and 1982, scoring music for the PBS television series Over Easy and writing music for broadcast advertising. Power contributed music for advertising campaigns for companies, including AT&T, Casio, Coca-Cola, Elizabeth Arden, Hardee's, Hertz, Intel, Mercedes-Benz, and Purina, as well as The American Cancer Society (Emmy Award winner) and The United States Postal Service.
He then moved to New York City in 1982 to further his music career by playing gigs in a variety of venues, including one performance at a wedding of a member of the Bensonhurst mafia.
Power was asked by the owner of Calliope Studios to sit in as engineer of a music recording session by the group Stetsasonic. Stetsasonic thought so highly of Power's work that he continued to work with them, overseeing the breakthrough sessions for their album On Fire.
He continued his relationships with hip-hop groups thereafter, linking up with the New York City collective Native Tongues, which was a crew of hip-hop groups, including A Tribe Called Quest, Black Sheep, De La Soul, and Jungle Brothers. All of the musical groups within the collective based their music around intricately designed and complex arrangements of sampling.
His most noteworthy project as an engineer is his work on A Tribe Called Quest's sophomore album The Low End Theory, which was recorded between 1990 and 1991 and released in September 1991. Power describes his work on The Low End Theory in the following quotation:
By the mid-1990s, Power ran a production suite at Sony Music Studios in New York. His profile continued to expand through his record production work with Me'Shell N'degéocello, the Roots, D'Angelo, and Erykah Badu. The latter saw Power get his first number 1 R&B single, "On & On", while N'degéocello's Peace Beyond Passion received a nomination for a Grammy Award as Best Engineered Album.
Later life and death Power was an Arts Professor at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts located in New York City.
Power died on March 1, 2026, at the age of 73.
Discography Production and engineering credits Year Artist Release Notes 1986 Perfect Stranger Love Letters / Some People Say Single 1991 A Tribe Called Quest The Low End Theory Album 1991 De La Soul De La Soul is Dead Album 1993 A Tribe Called Quest Midnight Marauders Album 1993 De La Soul Buhloone Mindstate Album 1993 Jungle Brothers J. Beez wit the Remedy Single 1993 Jungle Brothers 40 Below Trooper Single 1993 Jungle Brothers On the Road Again / Simple as That Q-Tip remix 1993 Meshell Ndegeocello Plantation Lullabies Track: "I'm Diggin' You (Like an Old Soul Record)" 1993 Meshell Ndegeocello Call Me Single 1993 Meshell Ndegeocello If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night) Track: "Two Lonely Hearts (On the Subway)" 1995 D'Angelo Brown Sugar Track: "Alright" 1995 Alliance Ethnik Simple & Funky Album 1995 Alliance Ethnik Respect Single 1995 Alliance Ethnik Honesty & Jalousie (Fais Un Choix Dans La Vie) Single 1995 Alliance Ethnik Le Vent Tourne Single 1996 Various artists High School High (The Soundtrack) Track: "Your Precious Love" 1996 China Time! Track: "Time" 1996 D'Angelo "Me and Those Dreamin' Eyes of Mine" Single 1997 Erykah Badu Baduizm Track: "On & On" 1997 Erykah Badu "Tyrone" Single 1997 Bran Van 3000 Glee Album 1997 Lynden David Hall Medicine 4 My Pain Track: "Sexy Cinderella" 1998 Lynden David Hall "Crescent Moon" Single 1998 Market "M6" Single 1999 Rahzel Make the Music 2000 Track: "To the Beat" 1999 Macy Gray "I Try" Bob Power remix 1999 Erykah Badu and D'Angelo "Your Precious Love" Single 2000 Lynden David Hall The Other Side Track: "Dead and Gone" 2000 Syleena Johnson Chapter 1: Love, Pain & Forgiveness Album 2000 Erykah Badu "Bag Lady" Single 2000 D'Angelo "Untitled (How Does It Feel?)" "Me and Those Dreamin' Eyes of Mine (Def Squad mix)" 2001 India.Arie Acoustic Soul Track: "Always in My Head" 2001 Syleena Johnson "Hit on Me" Single 2001 Ozomatli Embrace the Chaos Track: "1234" 2001 Erykah Badu Mama's Gun Special edition track: "Drama" 2002 Citizen Cope Citizen Cope Album 2002 Tre Hardson Liberation Track: "Watcha Do" 2002 Ozomatli Embrace the Chaos Tour Promotional release 2002 Blackalicious "It's Going Down (Sit Back)" Radio mix 2003 Rhian Benson Gold Coast Track: "Stealing My Peace of Mind" 2003 Rhian Benson Spirit EP 2004 Bonnie McKee Trouble Track: "January" 2004 Rhian Benson "Say How I Feel" featuring Slum Village and Dwele 2005 Meshell Ndegeocello The Spirit Music Jamia: Dance of the Infidel Track: "Mu-Min" 2005 Maktub Say What You Mean Album
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