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Keyboardist Keith Emerson’s death ruled a suicide

FILE - In this Aug. 12, 1999 file photo, musician Keith Emerson plays the new Van Koevering Interactive Piano, designed by electronic engineer Bob Moog, in Beverly Hills, Calif. Emerson, the keyboardist and founding member of the 1970s progressive rock group Emerson, Lake and Palmer, died Thursday, March 10, 2016, at home in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 71.
FILE - In this Aug. 12, 1999 file photo, musician Keith Emerson plays the new Van Koevering Interactive Piano, designed by electronic engineer Bob Moog, in Beverly Hills, Calif. Emerson, the keyboardist and founding member of the 1970s progressive rock group Emerson, Lake and Palmer, died Thursday, March 10, 2016, at home in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 71. (AP Photos/Damian Dovarganes, File)

LOS ANGELES – A coroner’s official says the death of keyboardist Keith Emerson, co-founder of the seminal progressive rock group Emerson, Lake and Palmer, has been ruled a suicide.

Los Angeles coroner’s spokesman Ed Winter said Tuesday the determination was made after an autopsy showed Emerson shot himself in the head. He says there were also signs the 71-year-old man had a heart condition.

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Emerson’s body was found early Friday by his longtime partner.

Authorities suspected Emerson shot himself but the determination did not become official until after the autopsy.

Emerson, drummer Carl Palmer and vocalist/guitarist Greg Lake were giants of progressive rock in the 1970s, recording six platinum-selling albums.

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