Bernie Worrell, keyboardist for legendary funk outfit Parliament-Funkadelic has passed away at the age of 72 after losing his battle with stage-four lung cancer.

Bernie began playing with The Funkadelics, the backing band for The Parliaments in the early 1970s before both bands collided to create Parliament-Funkadelic led by George Clinton.

Nicknamed “The Wizard of Woo“, Worrell created the legendary revolutionary sound of P-Funk with the Moog Synthesizer in which he was one of the first people to use. In 1980 when the Talking Heads began touring their experimental West African polyrhythms, Afrobeat and a more world sounds, the band decided to bring a more expanded touring line-up and brought in Worrell.

While in the Talking Heads, he preformed on the Speaking in Tongues (Sire, 1983) album and then in the Stop Making Sense concert film and live album and stayed as a member until David Bryne disbanded the band in 1991. He later reunited for the 2002 Hall of Fame performance.

Worrell is a legendary innovative figure in the world of Funk and his contributions will never be forgotten. R.I.P Bernie Worrell.