Ray D. Rowe, a founding member of the Gap Band whose home is where the Tulsa funk group got its name, died Sept. 7 in Tulsa. He was 90.

The Tulsa World reported Rowe's death, noting his induction into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame.

Born Feb. 8, 1936, in Haskell, Oklahoma, Rowe moved to Tulsa at age 9, according to the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame. He started singing while attending Booker T. Washington High School and never stopped.

In 1967, Rowe and fellow musician Chris Clayton were at Rowe's house when they came up with a band name: the Greenwood, Archer Pine Street Band, shortened to GAP. Those three streets run through Tulsa's historic Greenwood District, once known as "Black Wall Street" before it was devastated in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. The name stuck.

The original Gap Band was a nine-piece group. A circa-1973 photo published by the Tulsa World shows Charlie Wilson, Roscoe Smith, Alvin Jones, Tommy Lokey, Odell Stokes, Ronnie Wilson, Robert Wilson and Rowe. Clayton was also a member but was not pictured.

The early Gap Band toured alongside Leon Russell and the Rolling Stones. The group went on to release 15 studio albums and score hits including "You Dropped a Bomb on Me," "Outstanding" and "Burn Rubber on Me." According to Revolt, "Outstanding" alone has been sampled by more than 150 artists.

"Two trumpets and an electronic saxophone made a unique sound," Rowe told NewsOn6 in November 2021, reflecting on the band's early sound after the death of co-founder Ronnie Wilson.

The Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame inducted Rowe in 2008 as a vocalist, band leader and songwriter. In 2014, he sang a tribute to the late Lowell Fulson at an Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame ceremony at Cain's Ballroom. Also in 2014, Rowe was among 24 men photographed at the Church Studio as part of a Tulsa Sound portrait for Oklahoma Today magazine.

The Gap Band retired in 2010. Robert Wilson died of a heart attack that year. Ronnie Wilson died Nov. 2, 2021, at age 73.

Jack's Memory Chapel in Tulsa is handling funeral arrangements. No service date had been announced as of Sept. 9.