East Bay Ray, guitarist and founding member of Dead Kennedys, has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
The band’s management announced the news on social media on Tuesday.
“Ray says he plans to continue performing and touring with Dead Kennedys for as long as his health allows, and expressed his appreciation to everyone for their continued support,” the band wrote on Instagram, along with sharing a black-and-white photo of the artist.
The San Francisco punk icon co-founded the band in 1978 and continues to be a member of the seminal group, which broke up in 1986 and reunited in 2001, along with original bassist Klaus Flouride. Singer Ron ‘Skip’ Greer has served as lead vocalist since 2008.
Drummer Steve Wilson joined the band following the death of longtime drummer DH Peligro in 2022.
The band has several upcoming US tour dates scheduled, at which Ray is still set to perform.
The news comes in the wake of the band’s founding and former singer Jello Biafra, who didn’t rejoin the band when they reunited in 2001, suffering a stroke earlier this year.
In May, Biafra’s Facebook page shared that he is “progressing nicely”.
“His speech has mostly come back in full, and cognitively, it’s like the stroke never happened. The left side is still weak, but it is doing much better than it was.”
