Derry Brownson, the keyboardist and sampler for the English alt-rock band EMF, has died at the age of 55 . The band, best known for their 1990 hit “Unbelievable,” announced the musician’s death on social media on Friday, August 14, after receiving the news the previous night .
“We are devastated, the only solace we can find is that we are eternally grateful Derry was able to join us on stage a couple times just a few short months back,” EMF wrote in an Instagram post. “Nothing will ever be the same again without our band mate and friend, fly high brother Derry” .
Brownson was a founding member of EMF, which formed in Gloucestershire, England, in 1989 . The group’s debut album, 1991’s “Schubert Dip,” spawned the hit “Unbelievable,” which went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number three in the UK . He remained with the band throughout their initial run and their reunion, playing on all five of their studio albums .
In July 2025, Brownson revealed he was living with a cancerous brain tumour and had undergone surgery to remove part of it . At the time, he told the BBC that getting back on stage was a priority: “[It’s] just a battle really. I want to get back into playing, that has meant a lot actually just to do this gig now in our hometown”.
He was able to do exactly that. Brownson performed an especially meaningful show with EMF in their hometown of Cinderford in July 2025, and his final performance came in May 2026 in Frome . Bandmate Ian Dench described the return to Cinderford as a “wonderful, wonderful moment” . Dench told the BBC that Brownson was still “making jokes” when the two exchanged text messages just weeks before his death, and remembered him as someone who “embodied lust for life” and was “beautiful inside and out” .
The news of Brownson’s passing comes as EMF recently revealed that they had finished recording a new 14-song album earlier this summer . The band had reunited in 2022, releasing their first new album in 27 years, “Go Go Sapiens,” followed by “The Beauty and the Chaos” in 2024 . The band’s history was previously marked by tragedy in 2002 when original bassist Zac Foley passed away .