SC native Peabo Bryson, famous Disney music singer, undergoing care for a stroke
Greenville leaders said Monday they are praying for a full recovery for native son Peabo Bryson, who suffered a stroke and is hospitalized.
A two-time Grammy Award winner, Bryson, 75, is known for singing Disney’s Oscar winning songs “Beauty and the Beast” and “A Whole New World,” among many others.
“The City of Greenville holds Peabo Bryson close to its heart,” Mayor Knox White said. “This is where his life and musical journey began. We wish Peabo a full recovery and look forward to welcoming him home to share his extraordinary talent with the family, friends, and fans in the city that first embraced him.”
Bryson attended the segregated Beck High School and split his childhood between Southernside and a family farm in Mauldin, the city said in a news release.
He began performing at age 14 with Moses Dillard and the Tex Town Display at Mayberry Park.
State Rep. Chandra Dillard, a daughter of Moses Dillard, said Bryson practiced in the basement of their home and slept on their couch after late night rehearsals.
“There is a picture of me and Peabo on that couch, I was probably 5 years old, I had three pigtails in my hair,” Dillard said. “Peabo was the young one in the group who put up with the little kid. He was my pal.”
Dillard said after the band broke up her father moved to Nashville and Bryson moved to Atlanta, but the two stayed in touch.
When Bryson visited his mother in Greenville, he would always stop by to check on Dillard’s mother as well.
“He always remained humble, no fanfare. He didn’t come as superstar Peabo he visited as a friend of the family,” she said.
City Council member Lillian Brock Flemming, who also grew up in Southernside, said her brothers were Bryson’s friends and he would come to her house after pickup games of baseball and basketball in the neighborhood.
“We knew he could sing,” she said, “but his talent wasn’t fully developed until he started performing with Moses Dillard. Then we knew he was on the road to greatness.”
Bryson was in Greenville in 2024 for a ceremony to unveil a mural of him at Unity Park.
Bryson performed at the Peace Center on May 20, 2023, during which he was given a Key to the City and had a street designated for him.
“Pray for him. He has so much more to do in his life,” Flemming said. “Pray that he can use his arms and legs and God-given voice.”
This story was originally published June 1, 2026 at 3:21 PM with the headline "SC native Peabo Bryson, famous Disney music singer, undergoing care for a stroke."