Ten Years After star Alvin Lee dead at 68

Ten Years After frontman Alvin Lee has died, aged 68.

The rocker unexpectedly passed away on Wednesday morning from unforeseen complications following a routine surgical procedure, according to a post on his official website.

The message reads: "We have lost a wonderful and much loved father and companion, the world has lost a truly great and gifted musician."

Lee and his group became international stars after word spread of their stand-out performance at the Woodstock festival in New York in 1969.

Born Graham Alvin Barnes in Nottingham in 1944, he joined the Jaybirds in the early 1960s and found success onstage at the Star Club in Hamburg just as the venue's most famous resident act, the Beatles, became superstars. Lee formed Ten Years After in the mid-1960s with bassist Leo Lyons and the band became a must-see live act in the London blues-rock scene.

The band released its first album in 1967. Hit releases Stonedhenge and Ssssh followed before the group split in 1973, and Lee went on to find solo success. His last album, Still On The Road To Freedom, was released last year.