Andy Fletcher, founding member of British band Depeche Mode, has died aged 60, the band announced on Thursday.
“We are shocked and filled with immense sadness at the untimely passing of our dear friend, family member and band member.“, said the group which was formed in 1980 in Basildon, regarding forty kilometers east of London.
The causes of death were not specified.
Born in July 1961 in Nottingham, Andrew Fletcher, nicknamed “Fletch” was one of the band’s keyboardists.
Depeche Mode, leading group of the 1980s-90s
The band originally included keyboardist and songwriter Vince Clarke, keyboardist, vocalist and songwriter Martin Gore, keyboardist Andy Fletcher and vocalist and songwriter Dave Gahan.
Vince Clarke left the band at the end of 1981 and was replaced two years later by Alan Wilder.
Depeche Mode has sold over one hundred million records worldwide. Among his greatest hits, “Just can’t get enough”, “Everything Counts”, “Never Let Me Down Again”, or “Walking in my Shoes”.
Pioneers of synthetic pop in the early 1980s, they developed this genre to free themselves from it by opening up to guitars in the early 1990s.
The group enjoyed immense success with the album “Violator” (1990), which notably includes the hits “Personal Jesus” and “Enjoy the Silence”.
Depeche mode’s latest studio album, “Spirit”, was released in 2017, followed by a tour of Europe and the Americas.
Many artists, from pop to techno, now claim their influence.