Moody Blues co-founder Graeme Edge dies at 80

LOS ANGELES - Drummer Graeme Edge, who co-founded the iconic British prog-rock band The Moody Blues, has died at the age of 80, the band announced on Thursday. 

In a statement posted to the official Moody Blues website, bandmate Justin Hayward memorialized Edge, writing, "In the late 1960’s we became the group that Graeme always wanted it to be, and he was called upon to be a poet as well as a drummer."

"He delivered that beautifully and brilliantly, while creating an atmosphere and setting that the music would never have achieved without his words. I asked Jeremy Irons to recreate them for our last tours together and it was absolutely magical," Hayward added. 

Edge’s cause of death was not immediately disclosed. 

In 2018, Edge retired from the band he helped create in 1964. The Moody Blues went on to create some of the most memorable rock albums of the decade, including "Days of Future Passed," released in 1967, which included the timeless classic, "Nights in White Satin." 

The band was known for using an array of unconventional musical techniques to produce their iconic sound and will be most remembered for its orchestral backdrop which would go on to inspire bands like Genesis and Electric Light Orchestra. 

The year Edge retired from the band was also the same year the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.