James Woolley dead: Former Nine Inch Nails keyboardist dies age 50

'He brought coolness to playing keyboards,' says his ex-wife

(Facebook )

James Woolley, the former keyboardist for Nine Inch Nails, has died aged 50.

Woolley was a member of the rock band’s touring unit between 1991 and 1994 and performed in their Grammy-award winning Woodstock rendition of "Happiness in Slavery".

He joined the band during their 1991 Lollapalooza tour and appeared on their Broken EP and 1994's The Downward Spiral.

His death was announced by his ex-wife Kate Van Buren on Facebook, who praised Wooley as a loving father to their children and a musician who “brought coolness to playing keyboards”.

"James worked hard and played hard with NIN. He brought coolness to playing keyboards, which isn’t as easy to do as playing guitar or drums. Those years were truly magical and quite an adventure. After his time with NIN came to a close, we moved into a house in Topanga Canyon, got married and started a family," she wrote.

His cause of death was not immediately clear, although Ms Van Buren said he suffered injuries to his neck and spine which affected his mobility.

“Though our marriage ended, James always stayed close to his children,” her post continued. “He loved being a father. Because of significant neck and spine injuries, he wasn’t capable of doing a lot of physical activities with them, but he loved sitting down to paint, or teach piano, or just look at nature. He passed his amazing musical and artistic talents to all three children."

Nine Inch Nails founder Trent Reznor paid tribute to Woolley, telling Rolling Stone he “always thought of him fondly".

“He was a fun character to be around, a solid musician and a genuinely good guy. Those of us from that era of the band have been sharing ‘James’ stories.”