Fred Cole of legendary Portland band Dead Moon has died . He was 69. Cole had been fighting cancer and was recently hospitalized with bleeding in his liver; he passed away last night, on November 9. The announcement was made in a Dead Moon fan group in Facebook. Cole's death follows that of Dead Moon drummer Andrew Loomis, who died in 2016.

Fred Cole moved to Portland in the late '60s while on tour with his band the Weeds (also known as the Lollipop Shoppe). Here, he met Toody Cole and married her; the couple raised a family in Clackamas and Alaska, and formed several bands over the decades, including the Rats, Dead Moon, and Pierced Arrows. They'd most recently been performing as an acoustic duo, Fred and Toody.

Cole's influence on Pacific Northwest garage rock is inestimable, but this is a huge loss for the music community far beyond Portland. Fred Cole, more than any other musician I can think of, deserved the term "legendary." May he rest in peace.

Listen to his legacy after the jump--->