Mike Taylor, the keyboardist and vocalist in the Canadian indie pop group Walk Off the Earth, has died, according to a statement released Sunday by the band.
“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved brother and band member,” the Burlington, Ont.-based band wrote on Facebook.
“Mike had a love for life that was unmatched and a willingness to give that went beyond ordinary means,” the statement said, adding Taylor died “peacefully from natural causes” Saturday night in his sleep.
Walk Off the Earth are best known for their cover of Gotye’s Somebody That I Used to Know, which the band released on YouTube in 2012 and has since been viewed more than 185 million times.
The band was scheduled to perform alongside Burton Cummings, The Sheepdogs and Avenue Inn in Niagara Falls, Ont., on New Year’s Eve as part of a CBC television special. That concert was also set to kick off a 2019 world tour for the group.
Jillian Santella, a media contact for the group, said Walk Off The Earth will not be performing Sunday, however the event will still be taking place.
A photo posted to Instagram on Christmas Eve showed the five band members dressed in holiday costumes wishing their fans a “safe and Happy Holiday!”
“We love you all so much and we hope to see you at a show in the New Year,” the post said.
Taylor, known by some fans simply as the “Beard Guy,” had two children, whom the Facebook statement notes “he adored more than anything else in the world.”
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