\n<\/p>\n
\n\tJoseph Byrd<\/a>, leader of the pioneering psychedelic rock band the United States of America, died in November at the age of 87.<\/p>\n \n\tByrd\u2019s death on Nov. 2 went largely unreported until his family submitted a death notice<\/a> to the Los Angeles Times<\/em>, the New York Times<\/em> reports<\/a>. Byrd died suddenly at his home in Medford, Oregon, his family said. No cause of death was provided.<\/p>\n \n\tBorn in Louisville, Kentucky and raised in Tucson, Arizona, Byrd studied music under avant-garde composers like John Cage and LaMonte Young and was a participant in Cage\u2019s Fluxus movement of experimental performances; Byrd\u2019s first live performance, his family wrote in his death notice, was at Yoko Ono\u2019s New York loft.<\/p>\n \n\tAfter moving to Los Angeles with fellow musicologist and then-girlfriend Dorothy Moskowitz, Byrd enrolled in UCLA\u2019s musicology program, formed the New Music Workshop, and ultimately, with Moskowitz, founded the group the United States of America.\u00a0<\/p>\n