Michael Fonfara, Lou Reed’s keyboardist, died at 74

Michael Fonfara, the Canadian keyboardist who served in Lou Reed’s backing band throughout the 1970s, has passed away at the age of 74.

Fonfara died in a hospital in Toronto, Ont., On Friday of complications resulting from a two-year battle with cancer, the keyboardist’s reporter said. Rolling stone.

In addition to his tenure with Reed from 1974 to 1980, Fonfara was also a longtime member of the Canadian blues group Downchild. “He’s the best musician I’ve ever worked with,” Downchild co-founder Donnie Walsh said in a statement, with bassist Gary Kendall adding: “Yesterday we lost a brother, a mate of group, a co-author and a dear friend. If you met him, you loved him. A creative genius. “

After passages with the rock of the 60s, Electric Flag (on 1968 A long time to come) and Rhinoceros, Fonfara was enlisted by Reed to work on the singer’s 1974 album Sally can’t dance. For the remainder of the decade, Fonfara would serve as studio and touring keyboardist for Reed, which featured in the 1976s. Rock and roll heart, Years 1978 Street hassle and Live: take no prisoners, Years 1979 The bells and 80s Growing up in public; on this latest album, Fonfara is credited as co-author and co-producer alongside Reed on the LP.

During a long career which also included stoppages with Blackstone, Rough Trade and the Lincolns, Fonfara was hired to provide “keyboard textures” on a pair of songs from Foreigner’s 1981 Smash album. 4, including the hit “Urgent”.