MICKY Jones, one of the leading lights of the much-loved Welsh rock act Man died on Wednesday, aged 63, after a long battle with ill health.

Treated for a brain tumour in 2002, the guitar player battled on throughout several operations, briefly rejoining the Man line-up in 2004 and playing at the band's annual Patti Pavilion gig, before being forced into retirement by recurring problems and handing his Gibson SG over to his son, George.

Since it began back in 1968, with Micky, Clive John, Ray Williams, Jeff Jones and Deke Leonard, Man has been an unslayable beast, enduring a myriad of line-up changes, high-living in the San Francisco psychedelic days, shifts in fashions and record label wranglings.

Their colourful adventures on the road in Germany and the US were detailed in Deke Leonard's humorous account — Rhinos, Winos and Lunatics. But the death of Mickey closes a pivotal chapter on the act.

Taking their cues from The Grateful Dead and Quicksilver Messenger Service, (QMS's John Cippolina was an honorary member of Man on their Maximum Darkness tour of 1975), Man became known their 20-minute mid-song jam sessions which would career off at all angles with no warning, and Mickey's guitar style was one of the cornerstones of their appeal.

Leave your Lasting Tribute to Micky Jones

Born in Merthyr Tydfil in 1946, Micky formed his first band in 1960 while still a schoolboy, before his earliest professional outfit — The Bystanders — came into being.

Though best remembered for his time with Man, Mickey added his skills to a slew of line-ups including The Micky Jones Band, Manipulator, The Flying Pigs, Mary Whitehouse Experience, The Amoebas and tribute act Total Beach Boys.