Feb 4, 2024 at 10:03 AM Update: 5 days ago
Guitarist Wayne Kramer, co-founder of the American rock group MC5, has died at the age of 75. The American musician died on Friday from complications of pancreatic cancer.
MC5 was founded in 1963 in Detroit. Kramer and Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith were the band’s guitarists. MC5’s debut album, Kick Out the Jams from 1969, is seen as one of the most influential records of that time. The album inspired bands like The Clash, the Sex Pistols, the Ramones and Queens of the Stone Age. Kramer is according to the leading music magazine Rolling Stone one of the best guitarists of all time.
MC5 split up in 1972, but the band reunited several times in the years that followed. Drummer Dennis Thompson is the only original band member still alive following Kramer’s death.
After the end of the band, things went downhill for Kramer, who struggled with addictions. In 1975, the guitarist was arrested for drug offenses and served four years in prison. When he was released, he regrouped, made solo music and played with several other groups.
In 2009, he founded the organization Jail Guitar Doors USA. This organization donates instruments to prisons and provides music lessons to prisoners.
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