Nik Turner, Original Hawkwind Member, Dies

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Nik Turner

Nik Turner, a founding member of Hawkwind who contributed saxophone, flute and vocals to the group’s first seven albums as well as co-writing some of their songs, died on Nov. 10, 2022. Neither the cause nor place of death were revealed. Turner was 82.

Turner’s family confirmed his death, and posted this message earlier today: “We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Nik Turner—The Might Thunder Rider, who passed away peacefully at home on Thursday evening. He has moved onto the next phase of his Cosmic Journey, guided by the love of his family, friends and fans.”

Motorhead tweeted, “We lost Lemmy’s old bandmate Nik Turner today. Play some Hawkwind nice and loud!”

In a press release, Cleopatra Records, Hawkwind’s publicity firm, wrote: “Turner was simply one of the most creative minds of his generation. His tenure with Hawkwind was just the beginning of his journey to the outer reaches of the rock music universe as Turner would go on to release an astoundingly adventurous and diverse catalog of solo albums as well. His collaborations with everyone from UK Subs guitarist Nicky Garratt to Doors’ guitarist Robby Krieger to Todd Rundgren along with Steve Hillage of Gong, Amon Düül II founder John Weinzierl, Die Krupps leader Jürgen Engler and so many more expanded his creative energy and brought new generations of music fans into his audience. Just this year saw the reissue of Turner’s incredible concert extravaganza, Space Ritual 1994, as both a CD/DVD set as well as a 3-LP set, which features guests Helios Creed of Chrome and Psychic TV’s Genesis P-Orridge as well as Hawkwind alumni Del Dettmar and Alan Powell.”