Arthur Lee, the singer and guitarist with phenomenal 1960s west coast band Love – and the self-proclaimed 'world's first black hippie' died yesterday after a long battle with leukemia, his manager has announced:

"I am very sad to report that Arthur Lee died this afternoon in the hospital with his wife, Diane, by his side. This is still very much a shock for me as I had hoped Arthur would recover."

Arthur Lee formed Love in 1965, and went on to create some of the most memorable music of that decade, from the apocalyptic single 7 And 7 Is to Forever Changes, an album so perfectly complete that it destroyed the band and set a watermark that bands still struggle to reach. Much of the 1990s were lost to Arthur Lee, as he spent six years imprisoned on gun offences. However, since his release in 2001, Arthur Lee had been on critically-lauded tours of Love material until he was diagnosed with leukemia. As part of his treatment, Arthur Lee became the first adult in Tennessee to undergo a bone marrow transplant using stem cells from an umbilical cord, but it wasn't enough to save him.

Arthur Lee's spirit can still be felt in the work of several contemporary bands like Shack and Graham Coxon, who both had the fortune to play with him in his later years. However, in Forever Changes Arthur Lee left us a gift that will keep him alive, well, forever. He was 61.

Read more:

Influential Rocker Arthur Lee Dies In Memphis – Reuters