Virtuoso bassist RANDY COVEN, known for his work with Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, Leslie West and many others, has died at the age of 54.

He grew up in Long Island, New York, at the same time as Vai and Joe Satriani, and was later a roommate of Vai at the Berklee College of Music, where the pair formed a band called Morning Thunder.

He toured with Orpheus then created his Randy Coven Band, and they released debut album Funk Me Tender in 1985. Two more Coven albums were to follow, the most recent being 2002's Witch Way.

In the 1990s he worked with Mountain's Leslie West, appearing on his solo record Dodgin' The Dirt. He also played alongside Yngwie Malmsteen, Zakk Wylde, Steve Morse, Joe Lynn Turner, Doogie White and many others.

He'd most recently been working with ARK, featuring vocalist Jorn Lande, and MCM, alongside guitarist Alex Masi and drummer Jon Macaluso.

COVEN's cause of death has not been revealed. A brief statement from his family says: "It is with deepest and great sorrow, We must inform you our beloved Randy passed away on Tuesday. Services was held at Mt Ararat cemetery on Thursday at 1.15pm."