EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER‘s Greg Lake has died after a battle with cancer. He was 69 years old.

Lake‘s passingwas confirmed on the musician’s official Twitter account by EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER‘s longtime manager Stewart Young.

Young wrote: “Yesterday, December 7th, I lost my best friend to a long and stubborn battle with cancer.

Greg Lake will stay in my heart forever, as he has always been. His family would be grateful for privacy during this time of their grief.”

YES keyboardist Geoff Downes was one of a number of rockers who paid tribute to Lake on social media. He wrote: “Very sad about Greg Lake. I had the privilege of working with him on several projects. His great talent will be sorely missed by all.

“Another genius has passed away. 2016 has truly been an annus horribilis in musical history.”

Lake is the second member of EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER to die this year, following the suicide of Keith Emerson in March.

“It is with great sadness that I must now say goodbye to my friend and fellow bandmate Greg Lake,” former EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER drummer Carl Palmer said in a statement. “Greg‘s soaring voice and skill as a musician will be remembered by all who knew his music and recordings he made with ELP and KING CRIMSON. I have fond memories of those great years we had in the 1970s and many memorable shows we performed together. Having lost Keith this year as well has made this particularly hard for all of us.”

Lake is considered one of the founding fathers of progressive rock, creating 1960s rock band KING CRIMSON.

He subsequently teamed up with Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer to form the progressive rock supergroup EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER.

The influential trio released nine studio albums between 1970 and 1994.

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— GregLakeWebsite (@GregLakeWebsite) December 8, 2016

Very sad news about Greg Lake. I had the privilege of working with him on several projects. His great talent will be sorely missed by all.

— Geoffrey Downes (@asiageoff) December 8, 2016

Another genius has passed away. 2016 has truly been an annus horribilis in musical history. :-( #rip #greglake

— Geoffrey Downes (@asiageoff) December 8, 2016

Fonte: Blabbermouth.net