Mike Pinder, the original keyboardist of the English rock band The Moody Blues, passed away on Wednesday at his home in California, his family said in a statement. “His final days were filled with music, encircled by the love of his family. Michael lived his life with a childlike wonder, walking a deeply introspective path which fused the mind and the heart,” his family said. No cause of death was given. Pinder was 82-years-old and the last remaining original member of the band, which he founded in 1964 with Ray Thomas and Denny Laine. They shot to fame in 1965 with their cover of “Go Now” by Bessie Banks, and released their best-known hit, “Nights in White Satin,” two years later. Pinder left the band in the late 1970s but reunited with its members and former members in 2018, when the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. “His lyrics, philosophy, and vision of humanity and our place in the cosmos will touch generations to come,” Pinder’s family said.
