Art Laboe.
(Image credit: Rebecca Sapp/WireImage)

Art Laboe, a disc jockey for more than 70 years and one of the first to play rock 'n' roll on the West Coast, died Friday of pneumonia. He was 97.

His popular "The Art Laboe Connection Show" had a legion of devoted listeners, and was especially beloved by Latinos, who would call in to dedicate love songs in both celebration and remembrance. "He was the voice of the real L.A.," record producer Lou Adler told the Los Angeles Times. "He reached out and touched people growing up in this melting pot. He cut right through it and understood us."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.