Graeme Edge, the drummer and co-founder of the British progressive music group The Moody Blues, has died at 80.

The news of Edge’s death was announced by his family on Thursday without revealing the cause of his death.

His longtime bandmates John Lodge and Justin Hayward paid tribute on social media.

“It’s a very sad day. Graeme’s sound and personality is present in everything we did together and thankfully that will live on,” said Moody Blues singer Hayward wrote on Facebook.

“When Graeme told me he was retiring, I knew that without him it couldn’t be the Moody Blues anymore. And that’s what happened,” he added. “It’s true to say that he kept the group together throughout all the years, because he loved it.”

Hayward described Edge as one of the great characters of the music business.

“‘When the White Eagle of the North is flying overhead’ … sadly Graeme left us today,” said Lodge. “To me he was the White Eagle of the North with his beautiful poetry, his friendship, his love of life and his ‘unique’ style of drumming that was the engine room of the Moody Blues.”

One of the founding members of Moody The Blues, Edge was the last surviving pioneer member of the group. In 1974, he formed his own outfit, the Graeme Edge Band, but eventually returned to the Moody Blues in 1978.

Source: RTT Music News