MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer has died at age 75 - Detroit News

Wayne Kramer, the co-founder of pioneering Detroit rock band MC5, has died at age 75.

Considered one of the greatest guitarists of all time by Rolling Stone magazine, Kramer’s death was announced Friday afternoon on his official social media channels.

Kramer died at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles, according to Jason Heath, a close friend and executive director of Kramer's nonprofit Jail Guitar Doors. Heath said the cause of death was pancreatic cancer.

Kramer co-founded the MC5 in Lincoln Park, Michigan, in the 1960s. The anti-establishment, counterculture band went on to be considered one of the most influential American rock and punk groups of the era.

MC5's 1969 debut album "Kick Out the Jams" was recorded over two nights at Detroit's Grande Ballroom. It's considered to be a protopunk staple, and was listed more than once in Rolling Stone's list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time."

The MC5 in an old publicity shot. Back row, from left: Michael Davis, Wayne Kramer, Fred "Sonic" Smith. Front row: Dennis Thompson, left, Rob Tyner.

Kramer was very active in recent years, having toured as the MC50 with Soundgarden's Kim Thayil and Matt Cameron, Faith No More bassist Billy Gould and Zen Guerilla singer Marcus Durant. In 2022 Kramer announced the formation of We Are All MC5, a touring "reanimation" of the trailblazing band.

Kramer also served as executive producer of Jail Guitar Doors, a nonprofit organization that provides musical instruments and mentorship to incarcerated people. Kramer was open about his own jail time; he spent a few years in federal prison in the 1970s on a drug charge.

Often called "Brother Wayne," Kramer frequently collaborated with others, including his MC5 bandmates after the group's early 1970s breakup. At a 1992 memorial performance for late vocalist Rob Tyner, Kramer reunited with MC5 guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith, bassist Michael Davis and drummer Dennis Thompson. Smith died in 1994 at 46 and Davis died in 2012 at age 68.

In addition to the MC5 and subsequent versions, Kramer had a fruitful solo career with several releases. In 2018, he released his memoir "The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5, and My Life of Impossibilities," which won him a Michigan's Notable Book Award.

Emotional tributes underlining Kramer’s influence and tenacity poured in from musicians and music fans immediately following the news of his death.

“Brother Wayne Kramer was the greatest man I’ve ever known,” wrote Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello in a lengthy Instagram tribute. “He possessed a one of a kind mixture of deep wisdom and profound compassion, beautiful empathy and tenacious conviction. His band the MC5 basically invented punk rock music and was the only act to not chicken out and performed for the rioting protestors at the 1968 Dem National Convention.

"Wayne had a soft heart but was also Detroit tough as nails," Morello wrote.

"He was a true music aficionado with an eclectic palette, a sense of humor and wit to match," said Detroit musician Paul Randolph, who recently recorded with Kramer for the Alice Cooper album "Detroit Stories."

Staff writer Adam Graham contributed.

AP contributed.

mbaetens@detroitnews.com

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