Leslie West, guitarist and vocalist for the pioneering hard rock band Mountain, died on Wednesday morning. He was 75 years old.
The rocker’s death was confirmed to Rolling Stone by his brother, Larry West Weinstein.
Cardiac arrest is the official cause of death, after a heart attack on Monday sent West to a hospital in the Daytona area, where he never regained consciousness.
Mountain was best known for the song “Mississippi Queen”, which featured West on both guitars and appeared on the group’s debut album, “Climbing!” in 1970.
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The musician’s talent with the guitar was revered, even the late Eddie Van Halen once telling the outlet that West has an “incredible tone”.
Mountain guitarist and vocalist Leslie West died at 75 after a heart attack. (Photo by Bill Tompkins / Getty Images)
The star grew up in New York and started the band Vagrants with his brother Larry in the mid 60s, known for the song “I Can’t Make a Friend”.
Not long after, West formed Mountain with producer and bassist Felix Pappalardi, whom he met while collaborating on music for Vagrants. The band’s original line-up performed at Woodstock, just before the Grateful Dead.
Mountain split in 1972 before retiring to set two more records.
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On his solo record, West was successful with the song “High Roller”, with Mick Jagger on guitar. Jagger and Keith Richards also co-wrote the song with West.
The star struggled with her health for many years, having worked to end heroin addiction in the mid-seventies. He revealed in a 1990 interview that he had been using narcotics until 10 years earlier. He also fought diabetes.
Leslie West was known as a pioneer of hard rock thanks to his songs ‘Mississippi Queen’ and ‘Long Red’. (Photo by Stephen J. Boitano / LightRocket via Getty Images)
He would work with names like Slash, Peter Frampton and Ozzy Osbourne. He dipped his toe in the Hollywood pool a few times, including a small role in 1986’s “The Money Pit”.
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“Long Red” is another song for which he was well known, the outlet reports, and the song has been sampled by several rap artists such as A $ AP Rocky, Kanye West and Jay-Z in recent years.
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West leaves his wife Jenni Maurer.
The rocker’s representatives did not immediately respond to Fox News’s request for comment.