Nik Turner

One of the founding members of Hawkwind, saxophonist/flutist Nik Turner had perhaps the most prolific and varied outside career of the group's many alumni. He penned some of the space rock band's seminal anthems, such as "Master of the Universe," "Brainstorm," and "D-Rider," to name a few. Turner also led groups such as the satirical punk cabaret outfit Inner City Unit, who issued five albums between 1980 and 1985, highlighted by 1984's Punkadelic. His stylistic diversity included such album highlights as 1995's cassette-only Ska Stars Live and Nik Turner's Fantastic Allstars' Kubanno Kickasso, which offered fans his own take on Latin jazz fusion. But he was most acclaimed for his futuristic spin on spacy prog rock, as evidenced by 1993's Sphynx, 2001's Transglobal Friends and Relations, and 2015's Space Fusion Odyssey. Turner continued to record into the next decade, until his death in 2022 at age 82.