Local musician and go-go pioneer Rory Felton was fatally stabbed inside a D.C. apartment Friday.
Felton, a father and a grandfather, was one of the founding members of the band Rare Essence. He was just a few days from his 58th birthday.
His wife, Penny, remembers the kind and gentle man she met in high school
"He loved living and loved his music," she said. "Music was his number one love."
Police say Felton was stabbed multiple times in an apartment on Forrester Street in Southwest D.C. just before two a.m. Friday. He was pronounced dead on the scene.
"I didn't believe it. I didn't want to believe it," said fellow Rare Essence founder Andre Johnson.
Felton had survived a violent attack once in the past. In 1992, a gunman shot him in the head, and he wasn't expected to live. But his wife said that within weeks, he was up and playing the saxophone again.
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SHe said his family was the one thing he loved as much as his music.
Felton's loved ones take comfort in what he told them recently, during what would no one knew would be his last days.
"He went to church again for the first time in years," Penny said. "Last Sunday he just kept telling his kids he was doing everything he was supposed to do to make his life better."
There are no suspects yet in his murder.
