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Starship Guitarist Mark Abrahamian Dead at 46

Musician collapsed after playing a show Sunday in Nebraska

September 4, 2012 11:15 AM ET
mark abrahamian starship
Mark Abrahamian of Starship.
Via Facebook

Starship lead guitarist Mark Abrahamian died after suffering an apparent heart attack following a show Sunday in Norfolk, Nebraska, The Associated Press reports. He was 46.

"We had just finished the show. We were back in the dressing room eating. He apparently told the bass player he wasn’t feeling well," said road manager Scott Harrison. Abrahamian left the room and was talking with his fiancée on the phone when he collapsed. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. Although Harrison said he wasn't aware that Abrahamian had any health problems, he said the guitarist had mentioned to his fiancée that he had been having chest pains.

"We are shocked and saddened at the sudden loss of our guitar player Mark Abrahamian," the band wrote on Twitter. "We will miss you, brother. Rest in peace, Mark."

Starship was in Norfolk for a gig opening for Survivor and Boston. The band canceled a performance last night in Utah.

Abrahamian had been playing with Starship since 2000. The band traces its lineage through the Eighties when they were Jefferson Starship and back to the Sixties when they originally formed as Jefferson Airplane.

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