It has just been revealed that Ricky Gardiner, an iconic guitarist for David Bowie and Iggy Pop, has passed away. The news was announced by Iggy Pop and producer Tony Visconti.
“Dearest Ricky, lovely, lovely man, shirtless in your coveralls, nicest guy who ever played guitar. Thanks for the memories and the songs, rest eternal in peace,” they posted on social media.
A cause of death has not been shared, but Visconti did not that the guitarist had been living with Parkinson’s disease. Gardiner was 73 years old.
Gardiner’s legacy is most well-known for his collaborations with Iggy Pop, especially the song “The Passenger,” which the two wrote together.
“It was certainly a case of the chord sequence ‘slipping through’ while I was ‘lost in the glory’ of a beautiful spring morning,” Gardiner said of the song back in 2005. “I heard myself playing in the distance. The strength, inherent in a round, arrested my attention and I registered the sequence for future use.”
The guitarist was also a frequent collaborator with Bowie.
—
Photo credit: Irina Sergeyeva / Shutterstock.com