SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (AP) — A popular Saratoga Springs street musician known as “the Banjo Man” has died after entertaining downtown crowds for about 30 years.

According to his obituary, Cecil Myrie was 86 when he died Oct. 7 at Saratoga Hospital. Local media report that Myrie had been battling a form of bone marrow cancer.

Born in 1928 in Montego Bay, Jamaica, Myrie came to the U.S. in the 1950s and moved to Saratoga in the 1980s after a career with his own reggae band.

He was one of the first street musicians to perform on a regular basis during Saratoga’s busy summer season, and he and his four-string banjo soon became fixtures along Broadway. Myrie performed Bob Marley favorites as well as his own songs.

Funeral services were held Tuesday in Saratoga. He’s survived by his wife and eight children.

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