Alto Reed, who performed saxophone for multiplatinum Bob Seger’s Silver Bullet Band for practically half a century, died Wednesday of colon most cancers. He was 72.

Seger posted a observe about his “lifelong pal and bandmate” on social media: “He was wonderful – he might play absolutely anything,” he wrote. “In our band, he was the rock star.” Learn the total publish beneath.

Born Thomas Cartmell in Detroit in 1948, Reed was recognized for his showmanship onstage and his signature sax riff on “Flip the Web page.” He first began enjoying with Seger within the early Nineteen Seventies, performed on its Again in ’72 albums and joined the band for its first headlining enviornment exhibits at Detroit’s Cobo Corridor. By 1974, he was a full-fledged member of the Silver Bullet Band, which was about to interrupt nationally with “Reside” Bullet (1976), which was recorded at Cobo Corridor and featured a scorching model of the Reed-fueled “Flip the Web page” that continues to be a staple on traditional rock radio. Metallica coated the track on its 1998 album Storage Inc., with a guitar riff subbing for the sax.

Reed joined Seger and several other different longtime bandmates for a 2018-19 farewell tour, throughout which he performed the acquainted guitar riff from “Mainstreet” on sax. His horn additionally helped drive such Seger classics as “Rock and Roll By no means Forgets” and the 1978 hit “Outdated Time Rock and Roll.”

He was a part of the band throughout its Nineteen Seventies and ’80s heyday, enjoying on the multiplatinum albums Stunning Loser, Evening Strikes, Stranger in City, In opposition to the Wind — which was No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for six weeks in 1980 — and the 1981 reside set 9 Tonight. The only “In opposition to the Wind” gained the group it solely Grammy, for Greatest Rock Efficiency by a Duo or Group, and likewise scored a second nom that yr.

The group scored eight consecutive High 10 discs from 1976-94, together with Best Hits, which has offered greater than 10 million items within the U.S. alone. The band’s The Distance, Like a Rock, The Fireplace Inside, Face the Promise and Best Hits 2 additionally offered no less than 1 million items, and 1996’s It’s a Thriller went gold.

Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band additionally racked up seven High 10 singles, starting from the 1976 traditional “Evening Strikes” to the group’s lone chart-topper, “Shakedown,” from the 1987 movie Beverly Hills Cop II. The title reduce from Like a Rock peaked at No. 12 in 1986 however turned practically as acquainted as any of the group’s songs because the featured reduce in a long-running TV advert marketing campaign for Chevrolet vans throughout the Nineteen Nineties and early 2000s.

Seger was inducted into the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame in 2004, however his Silver Bullet Band was not acknowledged.

Reed is survived by two daughters.

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