Tributes paid to 'incredible' Deep Purple rocker Lord

The former keyboardist and co-author of the band's most famous hit, "Smoke on the Water," was surrounded by family when he passed away at a London clinic on Monday, after battling with pancreatic cancer since last August.

Lord, who also played for the band Whitesnake, co-founded Deep Purple in 1968 and wrote many of their best-known songs, before retiring from the group in 2002.

Members of the heavy rock band were among a string of musicians who took to the microblogging site Twitter to pay their respects following news of Lord's death.

A comment posted by the band said: "God bless you Mr Jon Lord. Hasta siempre (long live) maestro Jon Lord."

Former Guns n' Roses guitarist Slash wrote: "Sad day in rock'n'roll. Jon Lord has passed on. One of the biggest, baddest, heaviest sounds in heavy metal. One of a kind. RIP."

Rick Wakeman, the former keyboardist with fellow prog-rockers Yes and a friend of Lord's, said he was "a great fan."

"We were going to write and record an album before he became ill," he said.

"His contribution to music and to classic rock was immeasurable and I will miss him terribly."

A statement from his family on Lord's website said he had passed "from Darkness to Light" and was "surrounded by his loving family" when he died.

As a child Lord, who was born in Leicester, central England, learned piano at home, taking classical music lessons before turning to jazz and rock'n'roll.

After moving to London aged 19 to go to drama school he started playing piano in pubs and in 1964 joined cult blues band The Artwoods before touring with psychedelic pop group The Flowerpot Men.

He went on to join Deep Purple in 1968 and the group sold more than 100 million albums worldwide during its intermittent existence, including an eight-year hiatus between 1976 and 1984.

In 1976 Lord joined bandmate Ian Paice in Paice Ashton Lord and also played with Whitesnake and a re-formed Deep Purple.

Rocker Bryan Adams described Lord as an "incredible organist" for Deep Purple, which he described as "one of my fave bands growing up."

Tributes poured in from other musicians, with ex-Rage Against the Machine star Tom Morello writing: "RIP the great Jon Lord, Deep Purple's cornerstone/keyboardist. So many great great songs and that incredible SOUND of his! Thankyou."

Jazz musician Jamie Cullum described the musician as "a hero of the keys" while British actor Ewan McGregor tweeted: "Jon played with my great friend Tony Ashton. They'll be jamming upstairs now!"