Legendary guitarist, Slash, is the latest in a host of musicians to pay tribute to the late Jon Lord. The organist who crafted Deep Purple 's distinctive sound passed away yesterday (July 16, 2012), at the age of 71. He had been receiving treatment for pancreatic cancer since last year and died after suffering a pulmonary embolism. On Twitter, Slash wrote "Sad day in Rock and Roll; Jon Lord has passed on. One of the biggest, baddest, heaviest sounds in Heavy Metal. One of a kind. Rip."
Twitter has been awash with messages from people wishing to pay their respects to the rock legend. Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine was one of the first to respond to the news, saying "Rip the great Jon Lord, Deep Purple's cornerstone/keyboardist. So many great great songs and that incredible Sound of his! Thankyou." And one of Lord's former band mates, DAVID COVERDALE (with whom he played in Whitesnake) said "It was an absolute joy and pleasure for me to know him and to work alongside him. He is missed already."
Geezer Butler, of Black Sabbath - a band who were considered to be contemporaries of Deep Purple when they both became established in the 1970s - wrote a message on his own website to pay tribute "Very sad to hear of Jon's death, following his battle with the demon cancer. One of the great musicians of my generation. Tony Iommi recently worked with Jon, and said what a lovely bloke he was." I met him a few times, but never got to work with him. Blessings."