For many casual fans of anime, Dragon Ball was their introduction into the Japanese animated art realm. And with this particular show being an entry point for these fans, the first-ever voice they heard while watching the English-version of the coveted series belonged to none other than Brice Armstrong, the show's narrator and sometimes voice actor. Sadly, Armstrong passed away at the tender age of 84-years-old on Jan. 10 according to his talent agency and British publication, UNILAD.
Brice Armstrong gained notoriety as one of the show's English-dubbed narrator and also voice-acted for the characters Lord Slug, an extremely rare Super Namekian, and Captain Ginyu, the commander of the mercenary platoon, the Ginyu Force. Armstrong also did some English voice acting on several different animes including Yu Yu Hakusho, Lupin the Third, Fullmetal Alchemist, Case Closed and more.
At one point during his fruitful voice acting career, voice acting legend James Earl Jones even complimented the vocalist, saying, "I wish I had your vocal control." A statement provided by Armstrong's talent agency, Mary Collins Agency, confirmed his death earlier this month stating:
"I’m sad to say we lost a dear client and friend, voice actor Brice Armstrong, on Friday, January 10th, 2020. He died of natural causes at his home at age 84. Although many of you might not know Brice’s work, as he retired in 2009, many more of you knew Brice as an exceedingly talented voice actor, and a very sweet, funny guy.
In the anime and game community, Brice is perhaps best known as the narrator for the original Dragonball series, characters Captain Ginyu and Lord Slug in Dragonball Z, as well as providing voices on Yu Yu Hakusho, Lupin III, Case Closed and many other titles.
Christopher Sabat, a Mary Collins Agency voice actor and founder of Okratron 5000, worked with and directed Brice often. ‘Brice was the kindest, funniest person I’ve ever known. He was always humble, never in a bad mood–not the attitude you’d expect from such an industry legend.’"
According to UNILAD, the baritone voice actor passed away from natural causes leaving behind six children and nine grandchildren. In honor of his recent passing, a donation fundraiser for Armstrong's favorite charity has been created and can be found, here.
With Dragon Ball becoming one of the most lucrative franchises in animated history, dropping capsule clothing collections, video games, to movies – the show's supporters would formally like to recognize Brice Armstrong's contributions to the series for being the voice that stood at the forefront of one of the greatest animes of all-time. Rest in power, Brice Armstrong.
Check out a clip of the legendary anime voice actor getting busy in the booth in the video provided below.