Moody Blues drummer Graeme Edge has died aged 80.
The English musician co-founded the group, who were best known for their hits 'Your Wildest Dreams', 'Nights In White Satin', and 'Tuesday Afternoon'.
His family has confirmed his death to NewsNation, The Guardian reports. Graeme has had a long-standing career in the music industry and has been around music his entire life.
Edge had a musical career spanning over 50 years until he stopped touring in 2018 due to a stroke. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the rest of the Birmingham-based band at the same time.
He was born in March 1941 in Staffordshire, England, with his mum working in silent movies as a pianist whilst his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all worked as musical hall singers, per BBC News.
Graeme originally met some of his Moody Blues bandmates in the 1960s when he formed The R & B Preachers alongside Denny Laine and Clint Warwick.
Following the end of the group, three of the members - including Graeme - linked up with Ray Thomas and Mike Pinder, and together they formed The M & B 5. Later, the group decided to re-name themselves as The Moody Blues.
After hearing the sad news of Edge's passing, Moody Blues frontman Justin Hayward paid tribute to his friend.
"It's a very sad day. Graeme's sound and personality is present in everything we did together and thankfully that will live on," he said.
"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. It's true to say that he kept the group together throughout all the years, because he loved it."
"In the late 1960s we became the group that Graeme always wanted it to be, and he was called upon to be a poet as well as a drummer. He delivered that beautifully and brilliantly, while creating an atmosphere and setting that the music would never have achieved without his words," he added.
Recalling the band’s early days, he said: "Graeme and his parents were very kind to me when I first joined the group, and for the first two years he and I either lived together or next door to each other – and despite us having almost nothing in common, we had fun and laughs all the way, as well as making what was probably the best music of our lives.
"Graeme was one of the great characters of the music business and there will never be his like again. My sincerest condolences to his family."