Ian McDonald, founding member of King Crimson and Foreigner, has died

The English multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald died Wednesday at age 75. He was a founding member of two mainstay prog-rock bands: King Crimson and Foreigner.

His son Maxwell announced his death on social media, saying that his father had been battling cancer.

McDonald first came to renown as an original member of King Crimson, which was founded in January 1969. By July of that year, the band appeared with the Rolling Stones in a concert in Hyde Park, and released its debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King, that October. The album only went to No. 28 on the Billboard chart, but it was later hailed as a prog-rock landmark. The opening track, "21st Century Schizoid Man," featured McDonald blazing on his saxophone.