Walk off the Earth keyboardist Mike Taylor dies

The Burlington, Ont.-based band Walk off the Earth has announced the death of keyboardist and vocalist Mike Taylor.

In a post on various social media sites Sunday evening, the band says Taylor died “peacefully from natural causes last night in his sleep.”

His bandmates express their “deepest sympathies” for Taylor’s two children and ask for privacy for his family.

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Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward also expressed her condolences on Twitter, calling Taylor’s death a “tragic loss.”

“Our city’s condolences go out to the family, friends and bandmates of Mike. We are thinking of you,” Meed Ward tweeted.

Walk off the Earth shot to fame in 2012 when their cover of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” went viral.

A YouTube video for the song featured all five band members simultaneously playing a single guitar and singing in harmony.

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The band was scheduled to kick off a 2019 world tour with a New Year’s Eve show in Niagara Falls, Ont., on Monday night.

A representative for Walk off the Earth says they won’t be performing, but the show itself – which also features The Sheepdogs and Burton Cummings – will go on.