John Lawton, best known for his stints in Uriah Heep and Lucifer’s Friend, has died at 74.
The rock and blues singer died peacefully on June 29 with his wife Iris at his side.
A cause of death was not immediately disclosed but, according to a statement on the Uriah Heep website, Lawton’s death was “sudden and totally unexpected” and “contrary to reports, there was no illness involved.”
Lawton fronted German rock band Lucifer’s Friend, with whom he recorded five albums released between 1970 and 1976. He returned to the band for 1981’s Mean Machine. The band reunited in 2014 and released two more studio albums.
Lawton was also the vocalist on three Uriah Heep albums in 1977 and 1978.
He added his voice to groups like the Les Humphries Singers, Rebel and Gunhill and performed as a solo artist and in several collaborative projects.
Jeff Scott Soto of Trans-Siberian Orchestra, remembered Lawton in a tweet as “a KILLER singer and wonderful human being.”