Rick Davies, co-founder and singer of Supertramp, dies at 81

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LONDON (AP) — Rick Davies, the co-founder, singer and songwriter of British band Supertramp, has died after a long battle with cancer, the band said Monday. He was 81.

Davies, who co-wrote the band's music with Roger Hodgson, was “the voice and pianist behind Supertramp's most iconic songs, leaving an indelible mark on rock music history,” the band said in a statement on its website.

He died Saturday after battling multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, for more than a decade, the band said.

Davies and Hodgson formed Supertramp in 1969, and produced hits including “Goodbye Stranger," “Take the Long Way Home,” “The Logical Song," and “Give a Little Bit.”

The band's 1979 album “Breakfast in America" topped charts in the United States and Canada, won two Grammys and sold over 18 million copies.

Davies' “soulful vocals and unmistakable touch on the Wurlitzer became the heartbeat of the bands’ sound,” the statement said.

Born in Swindon, England in 1944, Davies had a passion for jazz, blues and rock and roll from a young age, the band said.

Hodgson left the band in 1983 and released solo albums. Supertramp disbanded in 1988, though Davies revived it in 1996. The group performed for the last time in Madrid in 2012.