The cause of death has not been released, but sources tell TMZ Heller was involved in a car accident in Ventura County, just north of Los Angeles, on Friday (02Sep16). Reports suggest a heart attack may have caused him to crash into a mini-van. He was hospitalised with serious injuries.
The founder of Ruthless Records, Heller signed Ice Cube and Dr. Dre’s pioneering hip hop act and released the group’s first album, Straight Outta Compton, in 1988.
He hit the headlines last year (15), when he launched a $110 million (£82 million) defamation lawsuit claiming actor Paul Giamatti’s portrayal of him in the hit biopic Straight Outta Compton was “false and damaging”.
In January (16), he told TMZ, “They say things about me in that film that are not only not true but they’re very demeaning and degrading, and now it means everyone all over the world is going to think that about me. It’s just not true.”
In the film, which became a huge global hit, Heller was depicted as a ruthless boss who did not fully compensate all members of the band. Ice Cube and Dr. Dre accused him of stealing from them, both in the film and in real life.
Though much of the lawsuit was rejected in court, Heller was allowed to proceed with it in part. These legal proceedings were still pending at the time of his death.
His lawyer, Mickey Shapiro, claims the stress surrounding his film lawsuit may have killed his client.
Shapiro tells TMZ Jerry barely slept and was “heartbroken” over the ongoing legal drama.
“Jerry Heller would be alive today if not for that movie,” the lawyer says.
Heller also worked with the likes of Elton John, Pink Floyd, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, The Who, and Ike & Tina Turner throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
