’70s Rock Star Robert Taylor Has Died

New Zealand rocker Robert Taylor has died. He was 74.

Taylor was the guitarist of the popular rock band Dragon. His bandmate Kerry Jacobson, who was the drummer in the band, shared the news via an Instagram post.

“I’m writing to share the unexpected and devastating news of the passing of my mentor,” he wrote. “My partner in crime for some of the best times, my musical comrade through the hardest of times and my dear friend of decades…the irreplacable [sic] Robert Taylor.”

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He continued the post by sharing how many “admired his songwriting and his musical talent” and that people still talk to him about how amazing Taylor’s musical abilities were.

“I admired his loyalty, I treasured his mateship, I valued his consistency and I absolutely loved it when often the phone would ring and he was up for a chat,” he wrote. “He had a dry wit, was a keen observer and had a memory like a razor but mostly he was just one of the good ones. That’s what has stuck in my head today “he was one of the good ones” and I think that sums it up. I will miss him terribly.”

Dragon began in New Zealand before the band moved to Sydney, Australia in 1975. It achieved rapid success with songs like “April Sun in Cuba,” “Still in Love With You,” and “Are You Old Enough?,” which was the theme song for the popular Australian TV series Puberty Blues.

The band took a brief hiatus between 1979 and 1982 before returning with the hit single “Rain,” which hit #2 on the Australian charts.

After his death, Audio Culture NZ declared him “one of New Zealand’s best-known guitarists.”

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