Former Bad Company frontman, Brian Howe, has passed away at 66 years of age. According to Independent.co.uk, Howe is said by a family member to have died from cardiac arrest on his way to hospital.

Howe replaced Paul Rodgers as Bad Company’s singer in 1983 for the Penetrator album after being recruited by his mentor, the American singer-songwriter Ted Nugent. He was also behind the majority of song’s on the group’s most successful record, Holy Water, which was released in 1990. He also performed on the very underrated Bad Company albums Fame And Fortune (1986), Dangerous Age (1988), and Here Comes Trouble (1992).

Howe was born in Portsmouth, England in 1953. His career began after becoming a member of heavy metal band White Spirit before eventually finding his way to Bad Company thanks to Mick Jones, a founding member of Foreigner. Howe was in the group with former Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs, Simon Kirke, the former drummer of Free, and songwriter Terry Thomas. He eventually left in 1994, stating that the decision was “not difficult”.