LONDON (AP) - Mick Karn, bass player in the 1980s group Japan, has died.
Statements posted on his website and Facebook page said the 52-year-old musician died of cancer at his home in London on Tuesday. In June, he announced on his website that he had been diagnosed with advanced-stage cancer; the specific type was not mentioned.
Karn was co-founder of Japan along with David Sylvian and Steve Jansen. The group’s 1982 album, “Tin Drum,” included the hit song, “Ghosts.”
John Taylor, the bass guitarist of 1980s English New Wave band Duran Duran, played tribute to Karn on Duran Duran’s website.
He described Karn as a “bassist and super-sideman”, and “one of the great visual and sound stylists of the late-seventies/early-eighties.”
Taylor said he first saw Japan with his brother Nick at Barbarellas in Birmingham on their Obscure Alternatives tour.
“Mick changed my life in a good way, “Quiet Life” and “Gentlemen Take Polaroids,” “Adolescent Sex” and “Tin Drum” are amongst the best recordings made during the post-punk era in my view,” he added.
“He shall be missed.”
Karn was born Andonis Michaelides in Cyprus, and came to Britain with his family at age 3.
He is survived by his wife Kyoko and son Metis.
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