Martin Duffy, a keyboardist who played for Felt, Primal Scream, and other U.K. rock groups, died peacefully Sunday at his home in Brighton, England. He was 55.
His brother Steve Duffy said he suffered a brain injury after a fall and passed surrounded by his family and son Louie. Primal Scream lead singer Bobby Gillespie paid homage to his bandmate on social media.
“We in Primal Scream are all so sad. I’ve known Martin since he was a teenager in Felt,” Gillespie wrote, remembering Duffy as a “deep thinker” and “beautiful soul.”
“He had a love and understanding of music on a deep spiritual level. Music meant everything to him,” Gillespie said, calling Duffy “the most musically talented of all of us. He had a swift eye for the absurd, the surreal and the ridiculous. He lived to laugh and play music. He was loved by all of us in the Scream. A beautiful soul. We will miss him.”
Primal Scream bassist Simone Butler also mourned the loss of Duffy.
Duffy joined English jangle pop band Felt in 1985 and moonlighted as a supporting keyboardist for Primal Scream throughout the ’80s. Felt split in 1989, and Duffy ultimately joined Primal Scream full-time in 1991 and contributed to the band’s third studio album Screamadelica and subsequent records up to 2016’s Chaosmosis.
Roberto Ricciuti/Redferns Martin Duffy
The late keyboardist — who released a solo album, Assorted Promenades, in 2014 — also played for other U.K. groups, such as Oasis, the Charlatans (filling in for Rob Collins, who died in a car crash in 1996), and Chemical Brothers.
Charlatans lead singer Tim Burgess also remembered Duffy as a beautiful soul on social media.
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