According to a statement on the pioneering British punk band The Stranglers’ website, it has been confirmed that the band’s keyboardist Dave Greenfield has died at the age of 71. Greenfield was admitted into the hospital due to heart problems before he passed on Sunday, April 3, after testing positive for the coronavirus.

In the statement regarding the news the band wrote, "We are deeply and profoundly saddened to announce the untimely passing of keyboard legend Dave Greenfield on the evening of May 3rd, 2020… Dave had been an ever present in the band since joining in late 1975 and his keyboard wizarfry was world-renowned over his 45-year career in The Stranglers. Dave was a loveable, friendly and eccentric character who always had time to chat." The post went on to include tributes from Dave’s fellow band members JJ Burnel, Jet Black and Baz Warne, in addition to the band’s manager, Sil Willcox.

"We lost a true innovator, music legend, and one of my dearest friends today. The word genius is bandied around far too easily in this day and age, but Dave Greenfield certainly was one. We stood together on the same side of the stage for 20 years, laughed, joked and shared our lives in the way that only band mates can. I’ll miss him forever. Our thoughts and hearts are with his wife Pam, and to the millions of fans who worshipped at his altar, he’ll never be equated," wrote Warne.

After Greenfield’s joining the band in 1975, they shortly after released their debut album, Rattus Norvegicus, in 1977 to high acclaim and thereafter became one of the most innovative and punctuated bands of Britain’s punk movement at the time. Greenfield is most known for writing the group’s most popular hit "Golden Brown," which charted at the No. 2 spot on the U.K. singles chart in 1982.

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The Stranglers were set to head out on a farewell tour with dates throughout the U.K. this summer that have now been postponed following the rise of COVID-19.

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