British musician Ian McDonald, co-founder of legendary 1970s progressive rock band King Crimson, died at the age of 75 on February 9 in New York from cancer, his son said on Facebook.
“I am deeply saddened to announce that my father passed away yesterday from cancer. He was incredibly brave, never lost his kindness and his sense of humor, even when it got tough”wrote his son Max on February 10 in a post published on February 11 on the website of Discipline Global Mobile (DGM), the music label of King Crimson.
According to the American magazine Rolling Stone, which had relayed the death by the voice of a spokesperson for the artist, Ian McDonald “died peacefully on February 9, 2022 at his home in New York, surrounded by his family”.
This album is considered the founding act of progressive rock, a mixture of rock tinged with classical music and jazz. The British Yes, Genesis but also the star formation Pink Floyd, are the best known progressive rock bands.
According to DGM, “Ian’s contribution to King Crimson was both profound and invaluable”. Multi-instrumentalist, he knew how to play the saxophone, the piano, the flute and the guitar.
Born in 1946 in England, Ian McDonald served five years in the British army, notably as a jazz musician, a decisive genre in the creation of King Crimson.
“We really hadn’t heard anything like that”testifies in Rolling Stone the guitarist of Genesis Steve Hackett, who attended the first concerts of King Crimson: “A kind of free-jazz sensibility but with a rock sensibility”.
Ian McDonald, who only played a few years with King Crimson, also founded the British-American group Foreigner with Mick Jones.