James Chance, a pioneer of New York’s No Wave scene, has died. He was 71 years old.

According to a GoFundMe started by his brother, Chance had been suffering from a “years-long debilitating illness,” and passed away on Tuesday surrounded by family.

Chance was born in Milwaukee in 1953, and began performing in bands while attending university in Michigan. In the mid ‘70s, he moved to New York, where he became involved in the city’s free jazz and punk scenes, forming Teenage Jesus and the Jerks with Lydia Lunch in 1976.

Chance only remained in Teenage Jesus for a short period, and in 1977 he founded the jazz-funk-punk group, The Contortions, where he began expanding his signature style. Explaining in later interviews that he wanted to mend the divide between various scenes in New York, he brought his impassioned, chaotic saxophone playing together with punk vocalizations, funky rhythms, and an all-around fervent sound.