Roy Ayers, the great jazz vibraphonist known for his hit "Everybody Loves the Sunshine" is dead after suffering an illness ... his family has announced.

In a statement shared on his Facebook, his family says the music legend died on Tuesday in New York City after suffering from a long illness. The didn't specify what illness he had.

They concluded their statement saying ... "He lived a beautiful 84 years and will be sorely missed. His family ask that you respect their privacy at this time, a celebration of Roy’s life will be forthcoming."

Ayers' biggest hit was "Everybody Loves the Sunshine." Over the year's his music has been sampled or covered by everyone, including Kanye West, Common, Mary J. Blige, D'Angelo, and Tyler the Creator.

His music really started to reach the masses with his work on the Pam Grier Blaxploitation film, "Coffy." He went on to drop "Everybody Loves the Sunshine" in 1976.

To give you an idea of how massive "Everybody Loves the Sunshine" is ... to date, the song has more than 130 million streams on Spotify.

He leaves behind his wife Argerie, and their two children, Ayana and Mtume.

Roy was 84.