Status quo bassist Alan Lancaster has passed away at the age of 72

DrAlan Lancaster, co-founder of British rock band Status Quo, and guitarist have passed away at the age of 72, the group announced Sunday on its website. He has suffered from multiple sclerosis for years.

“We’ve been friends and mates for years and have celebrated the resounding success of the ‘Frantic Four’ with Rick Parfitt and John Coughlan,” koo singer Francis Rossi said, according to the announcement. “Alan was pivotal to the tremendous and correct success of Status Quo in the 1960s and 1970s.”

Lancaster left the band in 1985 and then led legal disputes with his former bandmates.

But on the 2013/14 reunion tour, he again played with the regular cast. With Rossi and Coghlan, two of the “Frantic Four” are still alive. Parfitt passed away in 2016.