Iron Butterfly

The bassist for psychedelic rock band Iron Butterfly, Lee Dorman, has died aged 70. He passed on Friday, December 21st, the Associated Press reports. 

Although a coroner's investigation is under way, and foul play is not suspected, Orange County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Gail Krause says Dorman was found dead in a vehicle Friday morning. There are reports that Dorman was in fact on his was to the doctors before he died. Douglas Lee Dorman was born in September 1942 and spent his final years living in Laguna Nigel, an affluent coastal city in Southern California. Dorman was involved in Iron Butterfly from the very beginning. The band's website features a tribute: a simple black background with a white cap, featuring a butterfly on its front. Written below the cap are the words, "Lee Dorman 1942 - 2012".

The band's popularity peaked in the late-1960s, and its second album, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, sold more than 30 million copies around the world. "In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida," was a 17-minute heavy metal track that "was nothing short of a pop monument," The Times said in 1988, it was "the song of the moment" that caught the attention of the counterculture market. The album stayed on the national sales chart for 2-1/2 years and a three-minute version was a top 40 hit.

Continue reading: Lee Dorman - Iron Butterfly Bassist - Dies At Age 70

Lee Dorman, who played bass for the psychedelic rock band Iron Butterfly, has died at age 70.

A spokeswoman for the Orange County sheriff's office, Gail Krause, told press that Dorman was found dead in a vehicle Friday morning (Dec 21). His body is currently being investigated by the local coroner, although no instances of foul play are suspected to have happened. Krause also said that upon his death, Dorman may have been attempting to reach a doctor's or a hospital.

Dorman was not amongst the original members of Iron Butterfly when they formed in 1966, but did join up with the band a year later, following the recording of the band's first album Heavy. He remained with the band during their most prominent rise to fame in the late 1960s and early 170s until they disbanded in 1971. He rejoined Iron Butterfly in 1975 after they had already been reunited for a year, staying with the band and its various incarnations until they broke up again in 1985. Upon their third incarnation in 1987, Dorman performed with them more often than not, sporadically leaving the band by mutual consent from then until 2012.

Continue reading: Lee Dorman, Bassist For Iron Butterfly, Dies At 70