Commodores musician dies aged 58

Williams played keyboards for the Motown soul band

One of the founding members of soul group The Commodores, Milan B Williams, has died of cancer aged 58.

Williams wrote the Motown band's first single, an instrumental called Machine Gun, and played keyboards on songs such as Easy and Three Times A Lady.

"He was once, twice, three times a brother and we love him," said band member Walter Orange.

The musician died on Sunday in Texas. He is survived by a wife, Melanie, and two sons from previous marriages.

Williams met the other members of the Commodores in 1967 while they were freshmen at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, USA.

The band was fronted by Lionel Richie and signed to Motown records after touring with the Jackson Five in 1972.

After a string of chart hits, Richie left the group in 1983.

They struggled to recover from the loss, and Williams also quit in 1989.