In Memoriam | Devo Guitarist Bob Casale

We’re sad to report that Devo guitarist Bob Casale, a founding member of the band, has died at the age of 61. Casale’s brother Gerald, also a founding member of Devo, told TMZ that Bob passed away suddenly on Monday from health complications that led to heart failure.

Devo was founded in 1972 when the Casale brothers teamed with Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh in Ohio. The band went on to become pioneers of the new wave movement and achieved commercial success with the release of “Whip It” in 1980 and were known for their inventive outfits that included using flower pots as headgear. Devo put out a total of nine albums, the most recent of which was 2010’s Something for Everybody.

“As an original member of Devo, Bob Casale was there in the trenches with me from the beginning,” Gerald Casale told TMZ. “He was my level-headed brother, a solid performer, and talented audio engineer, always giving more than he got.”

A statement from Mark Mothersbaugh reads, “We are shocked and saddened by Bob Casale’s passing. He not only was integral in DEVO’s sound, he worked over twenty years at Mutato, collaborating with me on sixty or seventy films and television shows, not to mention countless commercials and many video games. Bob was instrumental in creating the sound of projects as varied as Rugrats and Wes Anderson’s films. He was a great friend. I will miss him greatly.”

Watch Devo’s appearance on Don Kirschner’s Rock Concert in 1979: