Mackay became familiar with the Stooges, from his tenure with the Detroit avant-rockers Carnal Kitchen. He was a credit to his group and his generation.
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Mackay joined the Michigan-based band in 1970 before laying down the tracks for the group’s second LP Fun House, No. 191 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Iggy Pop paid tribute to the musician on Facebook [Wenn].
The star is thought to have developed sepsis at a hospital in Daly City, California, after undergoing surgery in September.
MacKay said that when he was a child in the 1950s, virtually every big hit on United States radio had a “rockin’ tenor sax solo”.
He returned to The Stooges and performed with them at the Coachella Music Festival for their first live show in 29 years in 2003 and went on to play on their comeback albums, 2007’s “The Weirdness” and “Ready To Die” in 2010. The invite resulted in the making of two songs: “Fun House” and “1970”. To know him was to love him.
Mackay kept playing throughout the years. Over the next three decades, Mackay worked with a number of artists including the Moonlighters, Commander Cody, Snakefinger, the Violent Femmes and Delta Goodrem. Steve was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame along with the rest of the band in 2010.
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The Stooges’ guitarist, Ron Asheton, passed away in 2009, while the band’s drummer, Asheton’s brother Scott, died a year ago.
