Kevin Amodia October 14th, 2014 - 2:10 PM
Isaiah “Ikey” Owens, the touring keyboardist for Jack White and Previously of Mars Volta, has died at age 38.
According to Rolling Stone, the Cause of death has not yet been revealed for Owens, who was on tour in Mexico with Jack White at the time of his death.
Jack White took to social media to pay homage by posting on both his Facebook page and the Third Man Records Page,
“We will all miss you, Ikey. You were and are an incredible artist.”
Questlove, the drummer and bandleader for the Late Night and the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon house band, also known as the Legendary Roots Crew, was especially hurt by the news and expressed it clearly through twitter.
Ikey died?!?!!?!?!? NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
— Questlove Gomez (@questlove) October 14, 2014
dude. I'm so hurt over this man jesus.
— Questlove Gomez (@questlove) October 14, 2014
Ikey Owens interview. when your bandleader was onto something, you hired this dude to play keyboards http://t.co/E5vvumGUfY
— Questlove Gomez (@questlove) October 14, 2014
Other notable musicians touched by the loss such as El-P and Flying Lotus, also took to Twitter to voice their feelings.
OH MY GOD NO IKEY
— el-p (@therealelp) October 14, 2014
REST IN PEACE IKEY : (
— el-p (@therealelp) October 14, 2014
what a gentle, generous, brilliant musician we lost today. thank you ikey. we will miss you.
— el-p (@therealelp) October 14, 2014
I'm just glad i got to work with you one more time, brother. #ikey
— el-p (@therealelp) October 14, 2014
RIP Ikey Owens. Such a cool guy. You will live on forever . https://t.co/HUoBE851iU
— FLYLO (@flyinglotus) October 14, 2014
rest in peace Ikey.
— atmosphere (@atmosphere) October 14, 2014
Owens who began playing with White in 2012 has also appeared on his debut solo album, Blunderbuss and also on his most recent album, Lazaretto.
Out of respect for the late Ikey, Jack White has cancelled the remainder of his Tour in Mexico.
UPDATE:
According to Nasty Little Man, the publicist for Jack White,
“The coroner has determined that Ikey Owens died from a heart attack the morning of October 14 at approximately 4 am. The only drugs found in his room were a small amount of marijuana.”
