On Sunday, the music world lost one of its most innovative drummers: Ginger Baker, co-founder of Cream, passed away at the age of 80.

It was confirmed on Baker's official Twitter page that he died in a London hospital yesterday morning. "Thank you to everyone for your kind words over the past weeks", the tweet reads.

We are very sad to say that Ginger has passed away peacefully in hospital this morning. Thank you to everyone for your kind words over the past weeks.

— Ginger Baker (@GingerBDrums) October 6, 2019

The sad news comes after his family revealed that the drummer "is critically ill in hospital" two weeks ago. Although the cause of death has not been revealed yet, Baker had been suffering from health issues for the past few years. In 2016, he had to undergo open heart surgery due to "serious heart issues".

Besides co-founding Cream with Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker was also a frequent collaborator of Fela Kuti with whom he recorded three acclaimed albums. As a pioneer of jazz fusion, heavy metal and world music drumming, he was crowned the third greatest drummer of all time by Rolling Stone.

Many of Baker's peers took to social media to pay tribute to the influential drummer, including Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger and Ringo Starr amongst others:

Ginger Baker, great drummer, wild and lovely guy. We worked together on the 'Band on the Run' album in his ARC Studio, Lagos, Nigeria. Sad to hear that he died but the memories never will. X Paul pic.twitter.com/Rne4tn6A2i

— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) October 6, 2019

Sad news hearing that Ginger Baker has died, I remember playing with him very early on in Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated. He was a fiery but extremely talented and innovative drummer. pic.twitter.com/tZg3IGwP4Z

— Mick Jagger (@MickJagger) October 6, 2019

God bless Ginger Baker incredible musician wild And inventive. drummer Peace and love to his family 😎✌️🌟❤️🎵🥦🎶☮️ pic.twitter.com/jzAynDMEKy

— #RingoStarr (@ringostarrmusic) October 6, 2019

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I’m sorry to hear that Ginger Baker passed. He was a great drummer and we all were fans of Cream back then. “Sunshine Of Your Love” was a great one. Love & Mercy, Brian

— Brian Wilson (@BrianWilsonLive) October 6, 2019

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