Primal Scream Keyboardist Martin Duffy Dies At 55 After Sustaining Brain Injury In Fall

Rock band Primal Scream's keyboardist Martin Duffy died at the age of 55 after suffering from a brain injury Sunday.

The official Instagram page of the rock band shared a statement Tuesday, revealing the tragic news.

"Hard to write this. We never know how to speak around death other than polite platitudes," Scottish musician Bobby Gillespie wrote using the group's account. "All I want to say is that our soul brother Martin Duffy passed away on Sunday."

"He suffered a brain injury due to a fall at his home in Brighton," he continued. "We in Primal Scream are all so sad. I've known Martin since he was a teenager in Felt. He played keyboards on every album of ours from the first to the last."

Gillespie recalled that Duffy joined the band in 1991, adding that he was a "very special character." The musician then shared that Duffy loved and understood music on a "deep spiritual level" because music meant everything to him.

"He loved literature and was well-read and erudite. An autodidact. A deep thinker, curious about the world and other cultures," he noted further. "Always visiting museums in every city, we played or looking for Neolithic stones in remote places. Opinionated and stubborn in his views."

The post also mentioned how Duffy was praised not only by his British peers but also by notable American musicians like James Luther Dickinson, Roger Hawkins and David Hood as well as producer Tom Dowd.

"Martin was the most musically talented of all of us," Gillespie admitted. "His style combined elements of country, blues and soul, all of which he had a God given natural feel for. He never played the same thing twice, ever. He was all about 'the moment', better have that 'record' button on when Duffy was on fire."

Gillespie expressed appreciation for Duffy's unique timing and looked back on one of the shows they did in Chicago, noting, "George Clinton also dug Martin. I remember a session in Chicago where George said to him ' go to church Duffy !' , and he did."

Primal Scream was formed by Jim Beattie and Gillespie in 1982. Currently, the band consists of Gillespie, Darrin Mooney, Simone Butler and Andrew Innes. Beattie, on the other hand, went on to form another rock band called Spirea X, which was active from 1990 to 1993.