Jon Brookes, drummer for U.K. band The Charlatans, has died. He was 44 and had been in bad health since being diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2010.
According to the BBC, Brookes had been working on material with the band over the summer, despite having undergone several recent operations. Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess tweeted that the band is “torn apart” and is sending “love & thoughts to Jon’s family.”
Brookes had been in the band since it formed in 1989, playing on all 11 of the bands’ studio LPs, from 1990’s Some Friendly to 2010’s Who We Touch. All albums made the UK charts, with three of them—Some Friendly, 1995’s The Charlatans, and 1997’s Tellin’ Stories—going to No. 1. The band has also had 22 Top 40 singles in the U.K., four of which have landed in the Top 10.
The Charlatans (known in the States as Charlatans U.K.) formed in West Midlands, England in 1988. Though originally associated with the Madchester scene, the group ultimately found its sound blending ‘60s soul, R&B, and garage rock. Keyboardist Rob Collins was killed in a car crash in 1996, during the recording of the band’s fifth album, Tellin’ Stories.