Irish music industry pays respects to Aslan keyboard player Pat Fitzpatrick at funeral
Independent.ie Newsdesk
Some of the biggest names in the Irish music industry paid their respects to the late Aslan keyboard player, Pat Fitzpatrick.
'Fitzy' died earlier this week following a battle with liver cancer.
Singer Mary Coughlan, Composer Bill Whelan and Aslan's Christy Dignam were among the mourners at Mount Jerome crematorium in south Co Dublin this morning.
Fitzy (60) was originally from Belfast and trained at the Royal College of Music in London before playing with Katmandu and Van Morrison, The Blades and Something Happens.
He also became musical director of The Late Late Show.
Speaking to the Irish Sun, Aslan frontman Christy Dignam paid tribute to his friend, "Fitzy has left a huge hole behind in our lives both as a musician and a friend.
“It wasn’t just music, Fitzy was a lovely human being. He played with such feeling.”
Aslan also took to their Facebook page to share their sadness at Fitzy's passing.
"We are saddened to let you all know that our good friend and keyboard player Patrick Fitzpatrick (Fitzy) passed away peacefully this morning," they wrote.
"Pat played keyboards with us for over 20 years and was there with us on all the gigs and recordings that we did.
"He was not ours alone, he played with Something Happens, The Blades, Van Morrison and lots of other great bands but we liked to think of him as ours."
The band went on to explain that Pat was "rocking the roof off the Cork Opera House" just 11 days ago and "stayed up for drinks" with his fellow band members and his wife.