Michael Fonfara, best known as the late Lou Reed‘s longtime keyboardist and member of Downchild Blues Band, died aged 74 in Toronto last week after a two year battle with cancer.
The musician’s publicist Eric Alper confirmed the news to CBC News today (January 10).
The Canadian keyboardist was born in Stevensville, Ontario in 1946, and began his musical career in 1963 with early R&B outfit Jon and Lee & The Checkmates. Following that band’s dissolution, he toured and recorded with Electric Flag in the late 1960s and was chosen to be part of the Elektra Records “supergroup” Rhinoceros for three albums, co-writing their 1968 instrumental hit ‘Apricot Brandy’.
Among more permanent musical projects, Fonfara was becoming a sought-after session musician – it was his work with The Everly Brothers on the 1974 live album ‘Stories We Could Tell’ that caught Lou Reed’s attention. The keyboardist first played on 1974’s ‘Sally Can’t Dance’, and would contribute…