Sax legend Bobby Keys dead at the age of 70

Saxophonist Bobby Keys died at his home in Franklin, Tennessee, at the age of 70 on Tuesday.

He played saxophone for music greats such as Buddy Holly, The Rolling Stones, John Lennon, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Carly Simon, Marvin Gaye and Joe Cocker.

Michael Webb, who played keyboard with Keys, said that he had died after a lengthy illness. Keys had been on tour with the Stones earlier this year before he was moved to take time off for health reasons.

"The Rolling Stones are devastated by the loss of their very dear friend and legendary saxophone player, Bobby Keys," the band said in a statement. "Bobby made a unique musical contribution to the band since the 1960s. He will be greatly missed."

Keys originally joined the Rolling Stones in the late 1960s, after he had been performing with Buddy Holly. He started touring and recording with the band over the following decades and his music featured on three of the Stones' most acclaimed albums: "Let It Bleed," "Sticky Fingers," and "Exile on Main Street."

He was particularly close to guitarist Keith Richards, with whom he shared the birthday December 18, 1943.

Keys, born in Slaton, Texas, battled with drug addiction. A self-professed "devout pothead" of 50 years - in a 2012 interview with Rolling Stone magazine he said he smoked pot every day - wrote about his drug problems in his memoirs "Every Night's a Saturday Night."

He never learned to read music. "That's now where I come from musically," he told Rolling Stones magazine. "I come strictly from feeling, and that feeling comes from rock 'n' roll."

sb/bw (AP, Reuters, AFP)