Brian James, the founding guitarist of trailblazing British punks the Damned, has died age 70. A statement posted to his official Facebook page called him “one of the true pioneers of music”. No cause of death was shared.
His Damned bandmate Captain Sensible, AKA Raymond Burns, shared a tribute on X: “We’re shocked to hear that creator of the Damned, our great chum Brian James, has sadly gone. A lovely bloke that I feel so lucky to have met all those years ago and for some reason chose me to help in his quest for the music revolution that became known as punk.”
