HAWKWIND guitarist Huw Lloyd-Langton passed away December 6th at the age of 61. Huw had been battling cancer for the past several years and died peacefully at home in England with his devoted wife Marion by his side.

Huw's funeral will take place at 12 noon on Thursday, December 20th at St Mary's Church, Church Hill, Stalbridge, Sturminster Newton, DT10 2LR.

The band has issued the following notice to those wishing to pay their respects in person:

"First of all on behalf of Huw's wife Marion, daughter Kirsty and the rest of the Hawkwind family, we'd like to send out a heartfelt thanks to all of you who have sent tributes and kind words of support at this sad time, via the forum, facebook and e-mail.

Due to an overwhelming response and restrictions on space we need everyone who would like to come and pay their respects to Huw on December 20th, and who has not already confirmed, to contact us at Huw@hawkwind.com as soon as possible and at the latest by Monday, December 17th. We will then collate a list of names which will be checked on the day. Unfortunately if you are not listed, we will not be able to guarantee entry for the reasons mentioned."

A self-taught guitarist with mind-bending scope and range, Huw joined Hawkwind in 1970 and immediately made his mark by contributing his unique guitar stylings on the band’s groundbreaking self-titled debut album. Hawkwind is considered historic in that it was one of the first space-rock albums to be released.

Shortly thereafter, Huw left the band to embark on his own musical journey but he continued to be an integral part of the Hawkwind sound as both the occasional band member and frequent collaborator with his Hawkwind mates on numerous occasions as the years unfolded. He was on-board for the following albums: Live Seventy Nine, Levitation, Sonic Attack, Church Of Hawkwind, Choose Your Masques, The Chronicle Of The Black Sword, The Xenon Codex and this year’s Onward.

Huw also toured with Leo Sayer in the 1970s and was a founding member of acclaimed U. hard rock band WIDOWMAKER, which released two well-received albums in 1976 and ’77. He was adept at playing all styles of music – from hard rock to classical to blues – performing in the various genres with seamless ease and jaw-dropping talent.

In a statement, founding Hawkwind bandmate Nik Turner said, “He was a lovely guy and a great, great guitarist. I’m really sad that he’s gone. Everybody who knew Huw liked him; he touched a great many people with his playing. I will miss him.”

Huw was and will always be a much-loved member of the Cleopatra Records family. He had been a significant part of a number of Cleopatra projects including working with KINKS legend Dave Davies on a track for THE BLACK KEYS tribute album Black On Blues, and with Joe Elliott, Rick Wakeman and Carmine Appice on Who Are You, an all-star tribute to THE WHO.

His innovative guitar work was featured on the Space Rock Invasion DVD taken from the 2011 Space Rock Invasion tour on which Huw participated, as he opened to critical applause for Nektar and Brainticket.

Cleopatra Records is preparing to release Huw’s Rare & Unreleased Anthology in January, which will now be an amazing posthumous tribute to his work including never-before-heard solo acoustic recordings of songs later recorded by Hawkwind along with tracks from Huw’s solo band.