Longtime rocker Ron Bushy, who performed for years with the band Iron Butterfly, died Sunday at age 79, the group announced.
A cause of death was not revealed for the drummer, who died “peacefully” while accompanied by family members, including his wife, Nancy, the hard rock band said in a Facebook post.
“All three of his daughters were also with him,” Iron Butterfly wrote Sunday. “He was a real fighter.”
Bushy debuted with Iron Butterfly in 1966, shortly after the band was created in San Diego, and performed with many of the group’s different lineups in the subsequent decades.
His drum solo is a notable part of the band’s biggest hit, “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” which they released in 1968.
Bushy was the drummer on each of Iron Butterfly’s six studio albums, all of which the band released between 1968 and 1975.
“Nobody influenced us,” Bushy told the Vinyl Writer Music website earlier this year. “We did our own thing, but we did influence others. We just played and jammed and it became what is was and is today.”
Iron Butterfly previously wrote on its website that Bushy was recovering from an undisclosed illness.
“He will be deeply missed!” Iron Butterfly wrote Sunday in its announcement.
