Attrell Cordes

Attrell Stephen Cordes Jr. (May 15, 1970 – June 17, 2016), Cordes, as the frontman and lyricist for P.M. Dawn, became known for blending rap with singing, as well as ethereal beats and aspects of mysticism and crypto-Christian imagery, to his songs. The duo created their first demo using $600 that Attrell Cordes had earned while working at a homeless shelter as a nighttime security guard. In retaliation, KRS-One crashed a January 1992 P.M. Dawn concert at The Sound Factory Bar in Manhattan and threw the group off stage.

P.M. Dawn released two more albums, Jesus Wept (1995) and Dearest Christian, I'm So Very Sorry for Bringing You Here. Love, Dad (1998), which were critically acclaimed but failed to match the commercial reception of the earlier studio albums. However, Attrell Cordes found success by producing and writing for other artists throughout the 1990s and 2000s. He wrote a song for Elton John's Duets, which was performed by both John and P.M. Dawn. The duo's final album, F*cked Music, was a mail-order-only release available from the band's website in 2000.

Personal life and death Cordes endured several serious health problems, including diabetes for more than twenty years. He suffered several strokes, including one in 2005 which resulted in partial paralysis on the left side of his body. One of his legs had to be partially amputated below the knee due to gangrene. He had been living in nursing homes during his final years, as his health deteriorated.

Despite his poor health, Cordes and P.M. Dawn have a strong influence on contemporary rap, including the cloud rap branch of the genre. Jon Caraminca of The New York Times praised Cordes' and P.M. Dawn's contributions, calling them "both underappreciated and quietly influential" in a 2016 obituary. In a 2011 interview, rapper Doc G listed artists who have credited Cordes and P.M. Dawn as influences, telling the interviewer, "Kanye West, T-Pain, Outkast...but you can't mention P.M. Dawn without mentioning De La Soul, and you can't mention Arrested Development without mentioning P.M. Dawn...Everybody begets somebody. We had the weirdness. Now it's okay to be weird; it's okay to wear bizarre things."

P.M. Dawn appeared on a 2005 episode of the NBC reality show, Hit Me, Baby, One More Time. The group, still fronted by an ailing Prince Be, performed their 1991 hit, "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss", as well as a contemporary cover version of Puddle of Mudd's "Blurry" (2001). Cordes, who had just suffered a major stroke that same year, was helped onto the stage and performed the songs from a seat. P.M. Dawn won the episode's competition, defeating Animotion, Juice Newton, Missing Persons and Shannon. The group donated the entire prize of $20,000 to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, a disease which afflicted Cordes.

On June 17, 2016, Cordes died from kidney disease related to diabetes, at the Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune City, New Jersey, at the age of 46.