Neil Innes, Monty Python Collaborator, Dies at 75

Neil Innes and the Rutles performing at 100 Club in 2004. Photo by John Alex Maguire/Shutterstock (448885c)

The Rutles singer-songwriter and Monty Python collaborator has passed away. 

Neil Innes has died at the age of 75. The news was announced to the public via a statement posted to his website. The announced said that the musician died unexpectedly on December 29 of natural causes.

“We have lost a beautiful, kind, gentle soul whose music and songs touched the heart of everyone and whose intellect and search for truth inspired us all,” the spokespersons’ statement said.

Python founding member Sir Michael Palin described him as “a great writer” and “the most lovely friend.”

”He was a great writer and he was eccentric and he was clever without being pretentious. And he was the warmest of people to be with, he was a most lovely friend,” he added.

Fellow Python member John Cleese tweeted, “Utterly dismayed to hear about Neil Innes. Right out of the blue… A very sweet man, much too nice for his own good. Lovely writer and performer. When he worked with Python on our stage show, I listened every night to “How sweet to be an Idiot” on the tannoy. Very sad…..”