The Crusaders is a 70's jazz group from Houston, Texas. Joe Sample played the piano in the group. He died of cancer and he was in his 70's. I don't know how long he's been dead but I had posted some comments to a Crusaders song on Youtube called Keep That Same Old Feeling and I saw a few comments from people saying he died. My dad is a fan of The Crusaders and he has a few of their albums. He also has 2 solo albums by Joe. Their biggest hit was Street Life with black female singer Randy Crawford. Street Life is a nice song.