Kenny Morris, the founding drummer of influential post-punk group Siouxsie and the Banshees, has died at the age of 68.
His passing was confirmed on Thursday by music journalist John Robb, a close friend of the musician, who published a tribute on the website Louder Than War.
No cause of death has been disclosed.
Mr Morris was born in 1957 to Irish parents in the London area and grew up in Essex before pursuing studies in art and filmmaking.
He became the band's first permanent drummer in 1977, taking over from Sid Vicious, who had performed at just a single show before departing to join the Sex Pistols.
Siouxsie and the Banshees
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The self-taught musician joined after witnessing one of the group's earliest live performances.
Mr Morris's distinctive approach to percussion helped define the band's groundbreaking sound.
A largely self-taught player, he concentrated primarily on tom-toms rather than cymbals, creating a tribal quality that brought an otherworldly dimension to the group's music.
Working with producer Steve Lillywhite on the band's breakthrough single Hong Kong Garden, Morris recorded the drums in separate layers – cymbals first, then tom-toms – with added echo producing an enormous sound that would influence countless post-punk acts.
Kenny Morris has died at 68
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His drumming style was cited as an inspiration by Stephen Morris of Joy Division and Kevin Haskins of Bauhaus.
Mr Morris performed on the band's first two studio records, The Scream in 1978 and Join Hands the following year, both of which reached the top 20 of the Official UK Albums Chart and are now considered cornerstones of the post-punk genre.
Mr Robb paid tribute to his friend, describing him as "sweet, articulate, artistic and fascinating company" whose "beautiful eccentricity was adorable."
"He would turn up in a suit and a dress with open handcuffs on one hand and the next time in a totally different yet perfectly created bricolage of style, whilst still dressing in the artful confrontation of the 1976 punk era that he was such a key part of," Mr Robb wrote.
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Siouxsie and the Banshees in 1979
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The journalist recalled how it was always a pleasure to spend time with Morris when visiting Cork in Ireland, where the musician had been residing.
Mr Morris had been a prominent figure in the early London punk scene before joining the Banshees, having attended Malcolm McLaren's 100 Club Punk Festival in 1976 and briefly playing with Sid Vicious's pre-Sex Pistols outfit Flowers of Romance.
Morris departed Siouxsie and the Banshees in late 1979 alongside guitarist John McKay following internal disagreements, leaving the group just hours before a scheduled concert in Aberdeen.
After stepping away from the spotlight, he relocated to Ireland in 1993, where he reinvented himself as a visual artist.
He held teaching positions and operated an art gallery in Kildare Town during the late 1990s while continuing to develop his own paintings and drawings.
His work was sampled by Massive Attack on their 1997 track Superpredators.
Most recently, Mr Morris had returned to drumming with Dublin-based post-punk goth outfit Shrine Of The Vampyre.
His final art exhibition, titled A Banshee Left Wailing, was held in Dublin in March 2024.
He had completed his memoir prior to his death, with publication scheduled for later this year.