On 6/12/74 in Cannes, France, he and members of the
Delta Rhythm Boys--for whom he had been first tenor sine 1960--had just left the casino Palm Beach where they had played their jazz classics when they saw a Frenchman playing Russian roulette in the street. Coleman wanted to prevent the young man from playing with the revolver. The man then turned the weapon against the singer and fired, killing him. The man, a 29-year-old barber, was drunk. He was arrested and charged with murder.
