Motown legend and three time Grammy winner Joe Hunter has died, aged 79. He was diabetic, though the exact cause of his death is as yet unknown.
Hunter was the first musician hired by Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr, playing piano for the label's in house session band the Funk Brothers, and appearing on a string of Motown classics from the likes of Smokey Robinson, Martha And The Vandellas and Marvin Gaye. His distinct piano playing style became very much part of the Motown sound, and he also performed band leader duties for the Funk Brothers for a time.
Despite his role in a chapter of real music history, he performed less and less after parting company with Motown, and by the time Allan Slutsky set out to find all the original Funk Brothers in the eighties he found Hunter playing for tips at the Marriot Hotel in Troy, Michigan.
However, he enjoyed new success later in life after the release of a documentary film about the in house band, 'Standing In The Shadows Of Motown', which won the reformed Funk Brothers two Grammys for the film's soundtrack album, and a subsequent Lifetime Achievement Grammy. A reunion tour followed, though that ended after legal disputes between band members brought the reunion to a premature end.