The Bad Seeds musician Conway Savage, aged 58

Musician Conway Savage, who played piano and keyboards for Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds for nearly three decades, has died at the age of 58.

Savage had been diagnosed with a brain tumour last year.

The band released a statement confirming his death on Sunday.

It said: “A member of Bad Seeds for nearly 30 years, Conway was the anarchic thread that ran through the band’s live performances.

“He was much loved by everyone, band members and fans like. Irascible, funny, terrifying, sentimental, warm-hearted, gentle, acerbic, honest, genuine – he was all of these things and quite literally ‘had the gift of a golden voice’, high and sweet and drenched in soul.

“On a drunken night, at four in the morning, in a hotel bar in Cologne, Conway sat at the piano and sang Streets of Laredo to us, in his sweet, melancholy style and stopped the world for a moment. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. “Goodbye Conway, there isn’t a dry eye in the house.”

Born in rural Victoria in Australia, he began playing piano in his teens and played in a number of bands including Happy Orphans and Feral Dinosaur before joining The Bad Seeds in 1990 for the tour to promote their album The Good Son.

He appeared on the band’s subsequent studio albums, last recording with the band on their 2013 release Push The Sky Away.

Savage also released a series of solo albums between 1993 and 2010.

Conway was the anarchic thread running through the live performances.