Bass player Alec John Such of Bon Jovi dead at 70

Alec John Such, the bassist and a founding member of the iconic rock band Bon Jovi, has died. He was 70.

The group on Sunday announced the death of Such, the New Jersey band's bassist from 1983 to 1994. No details on when or how Such died were immediately available. A publicist for singer-songwriter Jon Bon Jovi didn't immediately respond to messages.

"He was an original," Bon Jovi wrote in a post on Twitter. "As a founding member of Bon Jovi, Alec was integral to the formation of the band."

Bon Jovi credited Such for bringing the band together, noting that he was a childhood friend of drummer Tico Torres and brought guitarist and songwriter Richie Sambora to see the band perform. Such had played with Sambora in a band called Message.

The Yonkers, N.Y.-born Such was a veteran figure in the thriving New Jersey music scene that helped spawn Bon Jovi. As manager of the Hunka Bunka Ballroom in Sayreville, N.J., Such booked Jon Bon Jovi & The Wild Ones before joining the singer-songwriter's band. He played with Bon Jovi through the group's heyday in the 1980s.

Bon Jovi gained notice with their first two albums, achieving massive success with their third release, 1986's Slippery When Wet, which contained the hits Livin' On a Prayer, You Give Love a Bad Name and Wanted Dead or Alive. Such also played on the subsequent releases New Jersey and Keep The Faith. Those three hit albums were recorded in Vancouver with Canadian producers Bruce Fairbairn and Bob Rock.

Such departed the band in 1994, when he was replaced by bassist Hugh McDonald. He later rejoined the band for its induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.

"When Jon Bon Jovi called me up and asked me to be in his band many years ago, I soon realized how serious he was and he had a vision that he wanted to bring us to," said Such at the Hall of Fame induction. "And I am only too happy to have been a part of that vision."