Sex Pistols Manager and Pivotal Punk Leader Dead at 64

A well known figure of the punk movement that took Great Britain by storm during the mid to late seventies, McLaren passed away this morning following a long battle with cancer.

Close friend and spokesman Les Molloy told The Independent, "He had been suffering from cancer for some time, but recently had been full of health, which then rapidly deteriorated.

"He had been doing very well. It's a sad day. I have spoken to his partner."

It is understood that McLaren's body will be moved to London for burial in Highgate cemetery.

As an icon of the 1970s punk movement McLaren began as a fashion designer, opening up a clothing shop with Vivienne Westwood called Let It Rock. With plans to start a new boutique, he visited New York in the early seventies, where he soon became the manager of The New York Dolls, a glam band formed around the same time as his visit. He was with the band until their breakup in 1976, from when he moved back to London with plans to form his own band, having seen the music scene rapidly developing in New York.

He soon recruited three local kids, all of whom were regular visitors to his Kings Road boutique, which was by now known simply as "Sex". Glen Matlock, Steve Jones and Paul Cook were soon dubbed by McLaren as "The Sex Pistols", with Jones originally positioned as the vocalist. However, dressed in a destroyed Pink Floyd shirt, with the words 'I HATE' scribbled above the band's name, John Lydon became the new vocalist, when visiting the shop and subsequently noticed by McLaren soon after the band's formation.

The band gained much notoriety under McLaren, and after their split in the US while on the Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols promotion tour, the manager and lead singer John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) fought over the Sex Pistol's copyright, a feud which lasted many years and was, ultimately, never resolved.

Despite this, Lydon has released in a formal statement in regards to McLaren's death: “For me Malc was always entertaining, and I hope you remember that. Above all else he was an entertainer and I will miss him, and so should you.”

McLaren has been remembered by a string of fellow punk scenesters, including designer and ex-partner Vivienne Westwood, who has said that McLaren was "a very charismatic, special and talented person".

"When we were young and I fell in love with Malcolm [McLaren]," she continued. "I thought he was beautiful and I still do. ...The thought of him dead is really something very sad."

McLaren and Westwood have a son together, Joseph Corre, born in 1967.

Corre has also paid tribute to his late father, describing him as "the original punk rocker", and "somebody I'm incredibly proud of. He's a real beacon of man for people to look up to."

Corre went on to say that formal funeral arrangements have not been arranged as of yet.