Martin Phillipps, founding guitarist of New Zealand jangle-pop icons the Chills, has died. He was 61.

“It is with broken hearts the family and friends of Martin Phillipps wish to advise Martin has died unexpectedly,” read a post Sunday morning on the Chills’ social media. “The family ask for privacy at this time. Funeral arrangements will be advised in due course.” The statement did not provide a cause of death, but a 2019 documentary called The Chills: The Triumph & Tragedy of Martin Phillipps touched on the musician’s life-threatening brush with hepatitis C in the 1990s and subsequent liver failure.

After the breakup of punk rock band the Same — which Phillipps joined as a teenager — the guitarist formed the Chills in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1980. The group soon signed to Flying Nun, the record label that propelled what would become known as the “Dunedin sound” to a worldwide audience. The Chills became one of the most prominent purveyors of this subgenre, and along with peers Sneaky Feelings, the Stones, and the Verlaines, their first recorded release was on Flying Nun’s seminal Dunedin Double EP in 1982. Their debut album Brave Words arrived in 1987, and its follow-up Submarine Bells reached #1 on the New Zealand album charts.

Despite a couple of brief hiatuses, the Chills went on to release a total of seven studio albums, their most recent being 2021’s Scatterbrain. They also released a handful of compilations and rarities albums, including 1986’s Kaleidoscope World, which Creation Records released in the UK and Captured Tracks reissued in the US in 2016. Phillipps was the only consistent member of the band, active with them for over 40 years.

“Very sad to hear of Martin Phillipps’ death,” fellow New Zealand rock legend Neil Finn shared on social media on behalf of his family. “He was a good friend, wonderful musician and one of NZ’s greatest songwriters. A true original, fascinated by and devoted to the magic and mystery of music. His recent work was as good as anything he’s done. Martin’s songs live on with his spirit. Our sympathies go out to his family and loved ones.”

 

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