News Item: Iron Butterly Guitarist Dead At 52

[DudeAsInCool]

News Item:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former Iron Butterfly lead guitarist Erik Braunn, who led the acid rock band to the heights of their success with the 1968 anthem "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," has died at age 52.

Braunn, a San Diego native who joined the Los Angeles rock group in 1967 at age 16, died on Friday of heart failure, the Los Angeles Times reported on Monday. His death was later reported on the band's official Web site.

Braunn stayed with the band just two years, long enough to experiencesuperstardom at the release of their 17-minute opus whose title was translated as "In the garden of Eden."

[DudeAsInCool]

Gee, the dude was young. These guys were big time back in the day and the guitarist was sort of a wunderkind.

Saw them Live once--I was literally ten feet in front of the stage right next to the speakers at the Atlantic City Pop Festival two weeks before Woodstock.

[HolyMoly]

Gee, the dude was young. These guys were big time back in the day and the guitarist was sort of a wunderkind.

Saw them Live once--I was literally ten feet in front of the stage right next to the speakers.

I saw them, too ... a bit further back in the auditorium, though. I started listening to them when they released "Heavy," their first album. And, I consider one song on that album, "Iron Butterfly Theme," to be one of the first songs (if not THE first) that could easily fall into the "heavy metal" genre. CLICK HERE for a short sound-byte of "Iron Butterfly Theme" from CD Universe.

Braunn wasn't with them at that point, though. Danny Weis was on guitar with Jerry Penrod on bass, replace by Lee Dorman on "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida."