Jewell Caples, formerly known as The First Lady of Death Row passed May 6th at age 53. Jewell sang on several Death Row projects including The Chronic, Doggystyle and All Eyez On Me. Caples was a pioneer of the gangsta style of singing along with the late Nate Dogg who was also a Death Row artist. Her cover of Shirley Brown’s “Woman To Woman” was both hilarious and deeply soulful. The song was on the Murder Was The Case soundtrack and became a signature hit for her. Caples originally worked with N.W.A before joining Death Row. She also appeared on the Deep Cover and Above The Rim soundtracks. When Death Row went through its personnel changes she left like many other artists but was never able to restart her career because of her former connection to Suge Knight. In 2011, she wrote her memoir My Blood My Sweat My Tears. Two months ago she was hospitalized and by her own admission almost died after doctors removed eight pounds of fluid from her body. At the time of her passing she and her manager Timothy Beal had been planning her comeback as a gospel artist.
