Blue Oyster Cult Guitarist Dies Aged 66

Blue Oyster Cult guitarist, keyboardist and founding member Allen Lanier has passed away at the age of 66. As Ultimate Classic Rock reports, the musician was hospitalized with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

A two year absence in the 1980s notwithstanding, Lanier played with the group from 1967 until his retirement in 2006.

Blue Oyster Cult singer Eric Bloom posted the following tribute to Lanier on his Facebook page:

“My great friend Allen Lanier has passed. I’ll miss the guy even though we hadn’t spoken in awhile. He was so talented as a musician and a thinker. He read voraciously, all kinds of things, especially comparative religion. We drove for years together, shared rooms in the early days. We partied, laughed, played. All BOC fans and band members will mourn his death. Ultimately smoking finally got to him. He had been hospitalized with C.O.P.D. It was Allen who heard some old college band tapes of mine and suggested I get a shot as the singer in 1968. A lot of great memories, over 40 years worth. Maybe he’s playing a tune with Jim Carroll right now.”