Neil Innes, Rutles Co-founder, “Seventh Python,” Dead at 75
Neil Innes, the musical comedian known as the "Seventh Python" and who co-founded the Rutles Beatles parody band with Eric Idle, died Dec. 30, his family said.
“We have lost a beautiful, kind, gentle soul whose music and songs touched the heart of everyone and whose intellect and search for truth inspired us all," his family said in a statement carried by Rolling Stone.
"He died of natural causes quickly without warning and, I think, without pain. His wife Yvonne and their three sons, Miles, Luke and Barney, and three grandchildren, Max, Issy and Zac, give thanks for his life, for his music and for the joy he gave us all.”
In addition to his work with Python and the Rutles, Innes co-wrote "Death Cab for Cutie," which he and the Bonzo Dog Band performed in the Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour,” inspiring an American band to adopt the song title as its name.
Writing on Twitter, John Cleese said he was "utterly dismayed" to hear about the sudden death of Innes, whom he called "a lovely writer and performer,” and was one of only two outside writers to work with Monty Python.
"A very sweet man, much too nice for his own good," Cleese said.
With the Rutles, Innes played the John Lennon character "Ron Nasty." Their films included "All You Need is Cash" (1978) and "The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch" (2002). In 1996, the band spoofed the Beatles' Anthology project with its own Archaeology.
“I wanted Neil Innes to live forever,” Michael McKean, aka Spinal Tap’s David St. Hubbins, tweeted. “A wise, funny and beautiful man. RIP.”
Yes' Rick Wakeman said he was "absolutely gutted" by Innes' death.
"He was gentle and kind, extremely funny and extremely talented," Wakeman wrote.