Music star killed in crash

The Echo and the Bunnymen member, aged 53, crashed inÂ…

10:45 04 September 2009

A former keyboard player for the seminal alternative rock/post-punk band Echo and the Bunnymen has been killed in a motorcycle crash.

Jake Brockman, aged 53 and married, lived in Bristol but the incident occurred on the Isle of Man when his bike colided with a converted ambulance near Kirk Michael on Tuesday.

Brockman was taken to Noble's Hospital but died from his injuries a few hours later.

The musician was generally regarded as the "fifth Bunnyman", since his inception into the Liverpool band since its 80s heydey. He officially became a full-time member in 1989, the same year in which the band's first drummer Pete De Freitas died in a similar crash.

In a statement, his family and wife Sally Mundy said: "Jake was always a classic bike enthusiast, he loved sailing though he was invariably seasick.

"Music was central to Jake's life."

Brockman was born in Borneo and studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. The investigations into the crash are ongoing.