<\/p>\n
\n\tJohn Lodge, bassist and vocalist for symphonic prog-rock greats The Moody Blues<\/a> for over 50 years, died this week. A post from his family appeared on his official Facebook page <\/a>Friday morning (Oct. 10) announcing that Lodge \u201chas been suddenly and unexpectedly taken from us.\u201d He was 82. <\/p>\n \n\tLodge was born in the suburbs of Birmingham, England in 1948. After falling in love with rock and roll in its early days, he started playing in Birmingham bands in the early \u201960s and met Ray Thomas, who would soon become a founding member of the Moody Blues. When that band\u2019s original bassist Clint Warwick left the group in 1966, Lodge stepped in at his replacement. <\/p>\n \n\tAt the time he joined the band, The Moody Blues had scored just one real chart hit, a blue-eyed soul cover of Bessie Banks\u2019 \u201cGo Now!\u201d that peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100<\/a> in April 1965. Following the addition of Lodge (as well as new guitarist and singer Justin Hayward), the band took a turn towards more symphonic, progressive and psychedelic rock. The band\u2019s first album in its new configuration, 1967\u2019s ambitious Days of Future Passed<\/em> was not a big chart hit at first, but did spawn another Hot 100 hit in the No. 22-peaking \u201cTuesday Afternoon,\u201d and began to win over a devoted fanbase with its lush arrangements and panoramic performance and presentation. <\/p>\n \n\tThe band\u2019s albums grew increasingly successful through the late \u201960s and early \u201970s, as the band hit the top five of the Billboard 200 with each of 1970\u2019s A Question of Balance<\/em>, 1971\u2019s Every Good Boy Deserves Favour<\/em> and 1972\u2019s Seventh Sojourn<\/em> \u2014 its first No. 1 on the Billboard 200<\/a> \u2014 while spinning off Hot 100 hits like 1970\u2019s \u201cQuestion\u201d (No. 21) and 1971\u2019s \u201cThe Story in Your Eyes\u201d (No. 23). The band\u2019s biggest hit of all would not come from these \u201970s albums, however, but from a revived highlight of Days of Future Passed<\/em>, as that album\u2019s climactic epic \u201cNights in White Satin\u201d reached No. 2 in late 1972, five years after its initial release. <\/p>\n