Def Leppard Mourn the Death of Keyboardist Dick Decent
The members of Def Leppard are mourning the passing of their friend and sometime collaborator Dick Decent, who had played with the band live as well as in a side group with Joe Elliot and Phil Collen.
Decent occasionally joined the group on stage at their U.K. dates to play keyboards on the song 'When Love & Hate Collide,' and he played with guitarist Collen and singer Elliott in their group Cybernauts in 2000 and 2001. According to his blog, the keyboardist had been sick since 2009, when he reacted badly to a round of antibiotics.
"Well... I'm not going to go into detail here, but in short I have been completely and totally F-CKED out of all existence by Ciprofloxacin and Ofloxacin," Decent wrote. "I am too ill and in shock to post any more right now, but if you take anything away from this post, let it be an insistence on NOT TAKING ANY FLUOROQUINOLONE ANTIBIOTICS.... EVER... for ANY REASON."
Def Leppard performed at a benefit to raise money for their friend last December. According to Brave Words, guitarist Vivian Campbell issued the following statement today:
"It is with great sadness that I heard of the passing of Dick Decent, super-talented musician, friend, and occasional keyboard player for Def Leppard. He was a young man and he should have lived a lot more life.Our time here is short and never fully in our control.
Live well and be good to each other."