ELP's Keith Emerson's Death Ruled Suicide

SANTA MONICA, CA - The death of famed keyboardist and Emerson, Lake & Palmer's founder, Keith Emerson, has been ruled as a suicide, the Los Angeles Medical Examiner-Coroner's office reported Wednesday.

Emerson, 71, was found by his longtime girlfriend in his Santa Monica home with a gunshot wound to the head last Friday. He was pronounced dead at the scene and a shotgun was recovered, according to the Santa Monica Police Department.

In the autopsy report, released Wednesday, the cause of death was officially ruled as suicide. The report also indicated that Emerson was depressed and suffering from heart diseases.

Born in Yorkshire, England, Emerson found early success with The Nice in the 1960s before forming one of the most successful progressive rock bands of the '70s, Emerson, Lake and Palmer.

Emerson played with ELP throughout the 1970s until the band's breakup in 1979. He then had a moderately successful career as a solo artist in the 1980s and with the band 3. ELP reunited for one album in the 1990s before disbanding again. His last album, The Three Fates Project, was released in 2012.

Emerson was widely considered in the music industry as one of the best keyboardists around.

— Photo credit: Mari Kawaguchi/Wiki Commons