Rick Parfitt, guitarist from Status Quo, has been pronounced dead in a hospital in Spain at the age of 68.

The band was originally founded by Francis Rossi and Alan Lancaster in 1962. They went on to be one of the biggest British rock bands in the 1970s, accumulating more hits in the British charts than any other, as well as selling around 40m albums worldwide.

Depsite their huge success, Parfitt once admitted that the band themselves had always struggled, not receiving any royalties, but instead making others around them rich.

The musician suffered a heart attack back in October this year, which resulted in him saying that he would no longer be performing or doing any further headbanging with the band.

He had also suffered from several other health problems, including having to undergo a quadruple heart bypass back in 1997.

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Watch Rick Parfitt in action with Status Quo, below: