DEEP PURPLE icon JON LORD has died from a health complication as a result of his fight with cancer. He was 71.

Last year he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, the fourth most-common type of the killer disease – but vowed to return to health, saying music would play a major part in his recuperation.

An official press statement says:

"It is with deep sadness we announce the passing of Jon Lord, who suffered a fatal pulmonary embolism today, Monday 16 July, at the London Clinic after a long battle with pancreatic cancer."