‘You will be sadly, sadly missed’

The bassist of a beloved Australian group has died.

While his exact age has not been confirmed, he is believed to have been in his sixties.

The Daily Mail reports that Ian Lees — whose name many might recognize from the Sydney, New South Wales-formed rock band Moving Pictures — died on Sunday following a heart attack.

According to News.com.au, Lees played on Moving Pictures’s smash hit single “What About Me (1982).” His death comes just a couple of weeks before he was scheduled to go on tour with Australian country musician Melinda Schneider.

“Such a beautiful man, love you forever,” reads a post published to the Moving Pictures Facebook page.

“He was my all-time favorite man to tour with and play in a live band with, his jokes in the car and the mountain of space he laid out for me to play on top of (lead guitar) was something that only Ian could do,” comments Moving Pictures member Mick Lockhart. “I’ll miss his face, I’ll miss his genuine real conversations and I’ll miss his music.

“R.I.P. my friend, you will sadly, sadly missed mate.”

“Ian David Lees: forever and ever my friend, and just quietly the world’s greatest bass player,” reads another post from Moving Pictures vocalist Alex Smith. “I love you, mate.”

News.com.au notes how Schneider launched a GoFundMe page following Lees’s death for his wife, Meny, who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer two months ago. Over $28,000 out of the page’s $45,000 goal has been reached as of the publishing of this report.

More information regarding a memorial service for Lees has yet to be announced.