Jon Lord, who co-founded heavy rock band Deep Purple in 1968 and co-wrote many of the group’s songs including Smoke On The Water, died on Monday at the age of 71.

Artists paid their tribute to the master on Twitter. The Kinks posted, “RIP Jon Lord. A fantastic pianist and composer. With The Kinks, he played keyboards on You Really Got Me. Legend.” Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider tweeted, “What an amazing musician and a true gentleman. We lost a great one. RIP.”

Actor Ewan McGregor recalled that Jon had played with his friend Tony Ashton. He concluded, They’ll be jamming upstairs now!” Jazz pianist Jamie Cullum described Lord as “a hero of the keys.”

The Deep Purple musician was born in Leicester and learned classical piano at an early age. Then, watching early rock ‘n’ roll got him hooked and he fell under spell and influence of star Jerry Lee Lewis and jazz organist Jimmy Smith.

Lord not only co-founded Deep Purple but also made the band pioneer of progressive and heavy rock with the help of his rock attitude. Other than rock music, he also composed and performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in 1969. He performed another concert to mark the 30th anniversary of Concerto for Group and Orchestra.

The news of his cancer was brought into public last year as he wrote on his website telling his admirers that he would continue writing music as a therapy for his disease.

On his death on Monday, Former Guns n’ Roses guitarist called it a sad day for rock ‘n’ roll claiming “Jon was One of the biggest, baddest, heaviest sounds in heavy metal. One of a kind.”

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