’60s Psychedelic Rock Icon Dies at 82

James Lowe, the lead singer and found­ing mem­ber of the 1960s psy­che­del­ic rock band The Elec­tric Prunes, passed away peace­ful­ly of nat­ur­al caus­es on May 22, 2025, at the age of 82. His fam­i­ly announced his death via a heart­felt mes­sage on the band’s offi­cial Face­book page, describ­ing him as leav­ing behind “a lega­cy of sound, love, and bound­less cre­ativ­i­ty” .

“It is with heavy and elec­tric hearts that we announce the pass­ing of our beloved dad, James Lowe — lead singer and founder of The Elec­tric Prunes,” Lowe’s kids wrote in their heart­felt trib­ute to their father. (Lowe shared chil­dren Lisa, Cameron and Sky­lar with wife Pamela, to whom he was mar­ried for more than 60 years.)

“He passed away peace­ful­ly of nat­ur­al caus­es on Thurs­day, May 22nd, 2025, sur­round­ed by music, our incred­i­ble mom, and the three of us — his kids: Lisa, Cameron, and Sky­lar,” they con­tin­ued. “Dad leaves behind a lega­cy of sound, love, and bound­less cre­ativ­i­ty. At the cen­ter of it all Was our amaz­ing mom, Pamela — his guid­ing star, endur­ing muse, and wife of 62 years.”

“In his words — Rock On!” they declared. “And we will.”

Born Thad­deus James Lowe on March 5, 1943, in San Luis Obis­po, Cal­i­for­nia, he grew up in West Los Ange­les. In 1965, Lowe formed The Elec­tric Prunes, ini­tial­ly as a garage/surf rock band named The Sanc­tions. They soon adopt­ed the name The Elec­tric Prunes and shift­ed towards a psy­che­del­ic-rock sound. The band’s debut album, released in 1967, fea­tured the hit “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night),” which peaked at #11 on the Bill­board Hot 100, and “Get Me to the World on Time,” reach­ing #27

After the orig­i­nal band dis­band­ed in 1970, Lowe pur­sued a career as a pro­duc­er and engi­neer, work­ing with artists such as Todd Rund­gren and Sparks. In 1999, he reformed The Elec­tric Prunes with orig­i­nal mem­bers, releas­ing new mate­r­i­al and tour­ing. The band’s last album, “WaS,” was released in 2014

Lowe’s con­tri­bu­tions to psy­che­del­ic rock have left an indeli­ble mark on music his­to­ry. His inno­v­a­tive sound and artis­tic vision con­tin­ue to inspire musi­cians and fans alike.