Spotify commented on his death saying: ‘We are deeply saddened by the loss of one of music’s greatest innovators.’
Peter Buck, the guitarist and co-founder of the heavy metal band R.E.M., has died. He was 90.
No cause of death was given. But Buck announced earlier this year that he was leaving the band in 2013, citing “decreased energy and motivation”. Co-founder Michael Stipe later announced that the band would be winding down its career.
R.E.M. released a statement shortly after Buck’s death. “Our hearts are broken,” it read. “We are deeply saddened by the loss of one of music’s greatest innovators, collaborators, and friends. He was an amazing talent and a devoted husband, father and friend. His creativity, empathy, humor, and wisdom were an essential part of our lives. We will miss him deeply.”
He died surrounded by his family, according to published reports.
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Buck joined R.E.M. after splitting with the band Status Quo in 1968, and would leave the group in 1996. He came up with the concept for R.E.M., about a band that played a portable warehouse that included a kitchen and laundry.
He said that the idea for the band was inspired by the construction of the Staples Center, as well as the “running and busking of rock concerts”.
He is survived by his wife, the jazz musician Anita Mikolea Buck, as well as his son, Jonah, from a previous marriage.
Spotify posted about his death on Twitter saying: “We are deeply saddened by the loss of one of music’s greatest innovators.”
Buck was born on March 12, 1928, in Los Angeles and began playing the drums in his native culture as a child. His uncle was the drummer Fred D’Aguiar, who was a pupil at the Los Angeles Junior College and the first drummer in a USC marching band.
In 1957, he met another drummer from the collegiate marching band, the Garibaldi Drum Ensemble, and the pair went on to form the D’Aguiar Band in 1957.