(CelebrityAccess) — Wayne Kramer, the singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known as the co-founder of the influential Detroit-based garage rock band MC5, died on February 2nd according to his Instagram page. He was 75.
The post announced his passing, noting that he died on Friday, but did not provide any additional details about a cause of death.
Kramer, along with fellow MC5 member Fred “Sonic” Smith, were ranked by Rolling Stone among the magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of all Time.
Kramer and Smith, both childhood friends, co-founded the Motor City Five (MC5) in Detroit when they were still teenagers, drawing influence from artists such as Chuck Berry and Dick Dale. The group soon added the more seasoned veteran of the Detroit music scene, Rob Derminer as lead vocalist and MC5 soon developed a reputation for their high-energy live performances.
However, the group’s strident left-wing political stance and several mediocre records led to the group’s disbanding in 1972.
Following the dissolution of MC5, Kramer ran into legal trouble and spent four years in a federal prison on drug charges.
After his release, he worked with multiple regional acts in and around New York City, including The Cooties, The Rousers, The Terrorists, and he performed with Don Was’s Orquestra Was before launching a solo career in the mid 1990s.
In 2001, Kramer and his wife and manager Margaret Saadi Kramer launched the indie label MuscleTone Records and released recordings featuring the surviving members of MC5 along with guests appearances from artists such as Motörhead’s Lemmy and The Cult’s Ian Astbury.
In 2018, Kramer marked the 50th anniversary of MC5’s “Kick Out the Jams” with an all-star lineup that included Kim Thayil and Matt Cameron of Soundgarden, Fugazi’s Brendan Canty, and Faith No More’s Billy Gould. He also released a memoir, ‘The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5, and My Life of Impossibilities’ that same year.
In 2022, Kramer hinted at plans for a revival of his solo career, telling Rolling Stone that he had been working on new material for an album to be produced by Bob Ezrin. He also planned on reviving MC5, including a new album with some help from Tom Morello, Vernon Reid, and Slash, among others.
“It’s not the same. We are not living in 1968. We’re in the era that we’re in, and one has to address that. In all art, you have to answer the question: so what? Why should I care? Because I made the best music I possibly could,” he told Mojo Magazine in December.
