While Jason, a struggling musician, played garage pop, the family supported itself through a dog-walking business.

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He said Byrd took him "under his wings" when he was a struggling musician in New York, even letting him sleep on a sofa-bed in his Bronx apartment for several years.

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After struggling as a musician, his first break came in 1972 when his composition Everybody Rejoice (A Brand New Day) was included in the hit Broadway musical The Wiz.

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Watson, a Grammy winning musician who was blinded after birth, had been struggling to recover from May 24 colon surgery and then a followup procedure two days later.

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