Garry George "Jellybean" Johnson, drummer of the Prince -affiliated bands the Time and the Family, died on Friday at the age of 69, two days after his birthday.

The Family vocalist Susannah Melvoin paid tribute to her “beautiful brother” Johnson in an Instagram post, which you can see below.

“This band was and is the kind of Family that believed we all rightfully belonged together in love, music and kindness,” Melvoin wrote. She praised Johnson’s guitar skills as well as his drumming chops, saying that “oxygen for him was the inhale and exhale of playing his guitar.”

See Susannah Melvoin's Tribute to Jellybean Johnson

Jellybean Johnson's Life and Career

Born on Nov. 19, 1956, in Chicago, Johnson relocated to Minneapolis when he was a child and began learning drums and guitar as a

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