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Jazz musician Ken Peplowski, known for his impressive skills on the saxophone and clarinet, has sadly died at the age of 66. The hitmaker was found dead on a cruise ship after a five-year battle with a deadly cancer. A close friend to the star, who also used to be head of editorial content at the jazz station WBGO, revealed that the performer was afflicted with multiple myeloma, a cancer that begins in the plasma cells in the patient's marrow.

On Monday (February 2), Peplowski was part of the musical quartet performing on this year's Jazz Cruise, an annual music festival held on board. A passenger told TMZ that when the star failed to appear for a scheduled show, his disappearance sparked concern among his bandmates.

This prompted a board-wide search party that quickly led to the discovery of his body in his cabin. Guests on the ship were later informed of his passing in an announcement that evening ahead of the big band performance.

The cruise company's executive director, Michael Lazaroff, said of the late musician: "He was a great musician, but he was also one of the very best entertainers ever." Express.co.uk has reached out to the Jazz Cruise for further comment.

In a longer statement on the Jazz Cruise's Instagram account, Lazaroff added: "I do not know any musician who respected the bandstand more than Ken. He was always prepared, loved performing with his fellow musicians, and, man, could he play!"

It is understood that the Jazz Cruise is planning to organise a "more extensive remembrance" of Peplowski in the near future, following their social media post announcing his death.

Peplowski was born in Cleveland back in 1959 and showed a talent for music at a young age. At the age of nine, he began playing the clarinet, while his brother found a love for the trumpet, with the support of their policeman father.

Opening up on his childhood, he previously told Jazz Times: "My father, probably fulfilling his own fantasies, had us form a polka band called the Harmony Kings, right out of the Shmenge Brothers."

By the age of 12, the promising musician was playing at Polish weddings and other lavish events, earning enough money to buy his first car after passing his driving test. He joked in an interview two years ago: "The sad thing is that if you look at the real dollars, I was probably doing better then than now!"

After honing his abilities by studying clarinet at Cleveland State, he got his first big break at 21 with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra - a legendary holdover from the Big Band Era that, by then, was no longer led by its namesake following his death in 1956.

The Dorsey Orchestra helped catapult the musician to stardom, and he went on to enjoy a decorated jazz career, in which he was celebrated not just for his impressive skill on the instruments but also for his cheeky rapport with audiences and fellow musicians.

In 2021, Peplowski was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, according to his close friend Lee Merger, in a heartfelt statement. He wrote: "He battled the often fatal disease with a unique combination of courage, fortitude and humour. After all, humour was just one of Ken's many remarkable gifts. He was without question the quickest and sharpest wit among all our artists."