Folk singer MIKE SEEGER has lost his battle with blood cancer a week before his 76th birthday.
The star, who suffered from multiple myeloma, passed away on Friday (07Aug09) at his home in Lexington, Virginia after stopping cancer treatment, his wife Alexia Smith has confirmed.
Seeger, who was due to turn 76 on 15 August (09), rose to fame in the 1950s and co-founded the New Lost City Ramblers, a string band based in New York City.
Seeger's work with the group helped to push the Folk Revival of the 1950s and '60s and his music played a key part in influencing a young Bob Dylan.
Dylan once said of the Grammy nominated star, "Mike was unprecedented. As for being a folk musician, he was the supreme archetype. He could push a stake through Dracula's black heart. He was the romantic, egalitarian and revolutionary type all at once."
The singer and multi-instrumentalist recorded and produced more than a dozen discs throughout his lengthy career and his most recent career success came in 2007, when he joined Robert Plant and Alison Krauss to play autoharp on their hit bluegrass album, Raising Sand.
Seeger is survived by his wife Smith, three sons and four step-children.