Music producer, pianist, and former music director for Saturday Night Live, Katreese Barnes passed away.
What We Know:
- Her brother, Jerry Barnes, informed the New York Times that she had passed away August 3rd at the age 56 after a decades-long battle with breast cancer.
- In the 1980s, she released three R&B albums with the band with her brother under the group name ”Juicy.” They were signed to the label Arista Records. They were known for working with big names such as Sting, Chaka Khan, and Roberta Flack throughout the 90s.
- In 2001, she was hired as a pianist on SNL. She worked her way up to music director and produced some of the shows most ionic songs for its live and digital sketches.
- Barnes won two Emmys while working with SNL. One was for Outstanding Original Music for the 2007 classic ’Dick in a Box’ performed by Justin Timberlake and the other for the 2011 Timberlake collaboration ’I’m Not Gonna Sing Tonight’.
SNL’s Seth Meyers shared his condolences and paid tribute after hearing the news on Sunday night tweeting:
Katreese was great. Sketch writers, many with no rhythm and terrible voices, would come to her with song ideas and she would turn them into gold https://t.co/iA3Iri6sKE
— Seth Meyers (@sethmeyers) August 19, 2019
