Graeme Edge, drummer and the founding member of ‘The Moody Blues’, has died at the age of 80. Confirming the news, frontman Justin Hayward said that “Graeme’s sound and personality is present in everything we did together and thankfully that will live on.” The cause of death was not known. 

The band, best known for its hits “Nights in White Satin” and “Tuesday Afternoon”, was founded in 1964 in Birmingham, England. Hayward and bassist John Lodge joined the band two years later following the exit of singer/guitarist Denny Laine and singer/bassist Clint Warwick. Throughout the history of the band, Edge remained an anchor. 

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“In the late 1960’s 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,” Hayward said in his post.

“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,” Hayward continued. 

Meanwhile, in a Twitter post, Lodge wrote, “Sadly, Graeme left us today. 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. I will miss you Graeme.”  

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Following the musician’s death, several of his fans paid tributes on Twitter.