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Chip Taylor, the songwriter behind the Troggs’ rock hit “Wild Thing” and actor Angelina Jolie’s uncle, has died. He was 86.

Taylor died Monday in hospice care, according to Page Six, citing Taylor’s longtime friend, producer Billy Vera.

Taylor, born James Wesley Voight in Yonkers, N.Y., in 1940, was actor Jon Voight’s brother, but built a formidable music career outside of his famous sibling’s shadow.

As a teen guitarist, he joined the band Town & Country Brothers, which toured with Neil Sedaka. His songwriting submissions to RCA Records impressed the artist Chet Atkins, who championed his tunes in the country music scene. Taylor also wrote out of the same 1650 Broadway building in New York where Gerry Goffin and Carole King were based.

In 1966, Taylor penned “Wild Thing” for the garage-rock band the Troggs, which rocketed to No. 1 and kicked off a new mode for rock ’n’ roll that favored grungier musicianship and more overt sexuality. “That upstrum, there? You wouldn’t play that if you were properly schooled,” he told the Independent in 2023. “I did it because I didn’t know any better. I ended up with this innocent energy. It came out of me looser that way, the feeling just flew out of me.”

Jimi Hendrix famously performed the song at Monterey Pop in 1967 in a fever of sexual tension (it featured in the 1968 concert documentary), making it an era-defining rock hit and Taylor’s most famous tune. He also wrote “Angel of the Morning,” popularized by Juice Newton and Merrilee Rush, and penned songs performed by Willie Nelson, Linda Ronstadt, Johnny Cash and Janis Joplin, among many others.

Taylor’s career pivoted in the ’80s, when he became a professional gambler and a rogue on the Atlantic City casino strip. Yet he had a later career resurgence in the 2000s, after he met fiddle player Carrie Rodriguez at the South by Southwest Music Conference in Austin, Texas. The pair released several acclaimed alt-country albums together. Taylor’s 2012 single “F— All the Perfect People” prominently featured on the soundtrack for the hit Netflix series “Sex Education.”

Taylor said the song was inspired by performing concerts for prisoners, some of his favorite gigs. “I’ve always liked talking to prisoners because, for the most part, they’re extremely honest,” he said. “I never met a prisoner I didn’t have empathy for. I wrote that at 6 a.m. one morning when I realized I had some shows for prisoners coming up and I wanted to write something that was just for them.”

Taylor’s final album was 2025’s “The Truth and Other Things.” He is survived by several children and grandchildren. His wife, Joan Carole Frey, died in 2025.

For the third year in a row, De Los, the Latino-centric vertical of the Los Angeles Times, will be returning to South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, and things are a little different this time around. While the music portion of the festival has typically been given its own weekend to shine, in 2026, it’ll be “folded into” a week-long event alongside film, TV and interactive programming.

But despite these changes, one thing is clear: After a banner year for Latin music at SXSW in 2025, it seems like everyone’s doubled down in 2026, with the festival welcoming a historic number of Latin artists to Austin. That includes the De Los showcase.

If our 2024 event was more of an intimate kickback, 2025 was an all-out party. Thanks to energetic sets from acts like trap corrido pioneers Arsenal Efectivo and the clashing cumbia punk stylings of Sultanes del Yonke, the crowd was up on their feet dancing, twirling and even forming a mosh pit at one point — all into the early hours of the morning. We hope to bring those same vibes back to SXSW this year.

If you’re in Austin for the festival, join us at Mala Fama, located at 422 E. 6th St., Austin, on Sunday, March 15 starting at 8 p.m. As always, the festival is a great opportunity to discover new artists and exciting new sounds, so whether or not you’ll be joining us in Texas, we hope this lineup might inspire you to find a new favorite artist, song or band.

Here’s who’s playing at the 2026 De Los showcase.

Hermanos Espinoza

With their South Texas upbringing (Puro 956!), it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this duo’s Norteño sound has plenty of Tejano flair too. Hailing from Edinburg, brothers Joel and Leonel Espinoza broke out not long after making their debut in 2022, when their song “Prueba de Fuego” hit more than 100 million streams. Their lively, accordion-rich music feels classic enough to be right at home on the playlist for your next carne asada.

Noteworthy track: “Dios por Delante”

Vanita Leo

Music is in Vanita Leo’s DNA. Born and raised in San Antonio, the singer’s father and aunt are both Tejano musicians who inspired Leo to take up the family mantle and put her own spin on the genre. With a love for the old-school sound of the 1990s, Leo manages to weave together her flirty, unserious humor with vintage romance, writing songs that’ll either validate your heartbreak over a bad ex or have you ready to dance it off and forget they ever existed.

Noteworthy track: “Caballito”

Tropa Magica

The second sibling duo on our lineup, Tropa Magica is the brainchild of brothers David and Rene Pacheco. Their signature sound, much like the East L.A. neighborhood they grew up in, is a melting pot of influences, combining old-school cumbias, ’90s grunge, and psychedelic rock into something completely unique to them. Since coming onto the scene in 2018, the band has gotten the stamp of approval from established acts like Bomba Estéreo, Los Tigres Del Norte and Chicano Batman.

Noteworthy track: “Ojos de Lágrimas”

Eddy

This is set to be Eddy’s year. Born Eduardo Hernández Payán, Eddy first made waves when he was discovered by corridos singer-songwriter Diego Millán (Calle 24) and signed to his Ondeados Mafia label. Last year, he built up a reputation for being an artist to watch in the Regional Mexican space thanks to collaborations with Gabito Ballesteros and Ed Maverick. Now, Eddy is prepping for the release of his debut album, “Náufrago,” later this month.

Noteworthy track: “Ultimo Cigarro”

Nezza

Many of you might know Nezza from her viral moment last summer, when she went viral for singing the national anthem in Spanish at Dodger Stadium — her form of protest against the immigration raids that had been taking place all over L.A. But just take a listen to the Dominican-Colombian singer’s original music, and you’ll see that she’s much more than a viral moment. With her Spanglish lyrics, soulful vocals and glittery production, Nezza has her sights set on international pop stardom.

Noteworthy track: “Tasty”