EMF’s co-founder and keyboardist Derry Brownson is dead at 55 as of August 14th. Billboard reports that the band made an Instagram post that said “Late last night we started to hear the news that we have lost our Brother In Arms Derran Brownson” … “We are devastated, the only solace we can find is that we are eternally grateful Derry was able to join us on stage couple times just a few short months back,” the group continued; at press time Billboard had not independently confirmed Brownson’s death or the keyboardist’s cause of death. “Nothing will ever be the same again without our band mate and friend, fly high brother Derry 💔” (Billboard).
BBC Gloucestershire shares that Brownson was diagnosed with a brain tumor and went through treatment for it. But ultimately died due to the lasting impacts the tumor had on his brain. Brownson was born 1971 and “rose to prominence in the early 1990s U.K. dance scene on the back of EMF’s inescapable, classic debut single, the pugnacious, Andrew “Dice” Clay-sampling party anthem “Unbelievable,” which hit No. 3 on the U.K. singles chart and No. 1 for one week on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1991. The song, with its thrumming bass line and singer Atkin’s cool, deadpan delivery, appeared on the act’s 1991 debut album, Schubert Dip. It became their calling card (and only significant U.S. hit) and one of the most iconic singles of the era’s rave-inspired “Madchester” electronic U.K. dance music scene” (Billboard). Brownson’s death came after the band’s announcement that the songs for their fourteen-track album are almost done.
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