Donald "Duck" Dunn, the bass player has died at age 70, his family announced Sunday.
Dunn was part of the house band at Memphis, Tennessee's Stax Records, He was also a member of the Blues Brothers, the band that backed up comedians John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd in their "Saturday Night Live" appearances and film.
"Duck Dunn was the backbone of the Stax/Volt era,"
Dunn died in his sleep in Tokyo after playing dates that had been postponed after the 2011 Japanese earthquake.
The musician had gone back to his hotel after their last show and died before catching a flight back to the United States, his son said.
Dunn was touring Japan with two fellow Stax veterans, singer Eddie Floyd and guitarist Steve Cropper. In a statement on his website, Cropper said, "Today I lost my best friend, and the world has lost the best guy and bass player to ever live."
Cropper and Dunn were high school classmates who joined Stax in the early 1960s to play with Booker T. and the MGs, which underpinned the label's lineup. The group's leader, Booker T. Jones, mourned Dunn in a statement on his own website, saying, "It was totally unexpected, and I've rarely had tears come so quickly."
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