Brett Tuggle, a keyboardist known for his collaborations with Fleetwood Mac and the David Lee Roth Band, has died at the age of 70 due to complications from cancer, according to his son Matt.
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“His family was with him throughout the entire time of his illness,” Matt told Rolling Stone. “He was a lovely father, he gave me music in my life.”
Tuggle was born in Denver, Colorado, and gained an interest in music from a young age. He studied guitar, organ and piano while in Denver and began his music career playing in local Denver bands, before briefly playing for some touring bands in Texas.
The keyboardist made his first contact with bigger bands when he was invited by producer Keith Olsen to visit Los Angeles, and became a touring keyboardist for John Kay & Steppenwolf as his first major band job. He then collaborated with David Lee Roth from 1986 to 1994 and co-wrote the hit single “Just Like Paradise” with the artist.
Tuggle first met Mick Fleetwood while playing on his side-band Zoo, and he later joined Fleetwood Mac as a keyboardist from 1997 to 2017. Tuggle was let go from the band in 2018 and theorized in an interview that he was fired by Stevie Nicks because of his friendship with former band member Lindsey Buckingham.
Tuggle said he was “really shocked” when he heard he was out of the band, but said, “in the end, [Stevie] looked at me a little as abandoning her and going over to Lindsey’s camp.”
The keyboardist had been touring with Buckingham last year, but he did not rejoin the tour when it restarted this past April. Buckingham told concertgoers that Tuggle “is having a little bit of a health problem,” but said he hoped he would be able to return to the shows soon.
Tuggle is survived by his son Matt and daughter Michelle.
