George Tickner, original guitarist and co-founder of Journey, dies at 76

Journey is mourning the loss of one of its original members. Guitarist George Tickner, who co-founded the rock band in 1973, has died. He was 76.

Lead guitarist Neal Schon announced his bandmate’s death Tuesday on Facebook. Schon, 69, said Tickner “will be missed immensely!�

“George ... thank you for the music. We will be paying tribute to you on this page indefinitely,� Schon said in his Facebook tribute post. “Our condolences to his family and friends, and to all the past and present band members. So heartbreaking..I think we need to do a group hug.�

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Tickner, who was born in New York on Sept. 8, 1946, was a former rocker with the San Francisco band Frumious Bandersnatch with bassist Ross Valory. In 1973, Tickner and Valory formed Journey with Schon and drummer Prairie Prince.

Shortly after Journey released its debut album, “Journey,� in April 1975, Tickner departed the group to “attend Stanford University on full scholarship� to pursue a medical degree, according to Schon.

Tickner continued to pursue music after his Journey days, establishing the Hive recording studio with Valory. Tickner, Valory and keyboardist Stevie “Keys� Roseman also created the band VTR and released its sole album, “Cinema,� in 2005.

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Schon did not reveal additional details about Tickner’s death, including a cause or survivors. He did remember his late bandmate Wednesday with music.

“Some smooth Strat to EZzzzzzz your soul. Prayers for George,� Schon captioned an Instagram video of himself playing guitar to a slow song. The official Journey Instagram account reposted Schon’s video to its story on Thursday.