WASHINGTON (AFP).- Dr. John, the American jazz musician who delighted fans for decades with his legendary piano riffs and unmistakable hoarse voice, died Thursday, his family said.

The New Orleans blues pianist, whose real name Malcolm John Rebennack was shortened to "Mac" by his friends, suffered a heart attack "towards the break of day", according to a statement on his official Twitter account.

The jiving talking "psychedelic godfather" -- who inspired Dr. Teeth, the band leader in "The Muppets" -- was 77.

A musical monument in the mould of fellow New Orleans greats Fats Domino and Allen Toussaint, he played with everyone from the Rolling Stones to Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Phil Spector, Sonny & Cher and Van Morrison.

Former Beatle Ringo Starr was among the first major stars to react to his death, tweeting, "God bless Dr. John peace and love to all his family I love the doctor."

Dr. John's talents defied genre, as he played everything from blues and pop to jazz, boogie woogie and rock-and-roll.

Voodoo master
A hugely colourful character known for his trademark gravelly voice and statement hats, he brought psychedelic rock to Louisiana's Big Easy in the 1960s and then introduced the city to funk in the 1970s.

Dr. John took his name from a 19th-century voodoo master who came to New Orleans from Haiti, and his outlandishness sometimes got too much for even his closest collaborators, with Frank Zappa once sacking him for using drugs.

He wrote about his heroin addiction in his fantastical 1994 autobiography "Under the Hoodoo Moon", and spent two years in prison for drug possession in the 1960s.

Having played guitar with Professor Longhair, Art Neville, James Booker and Bo Diddley, Dr. John was steeped in New Orleans musical culture.

He played himself in the Emmy-winning television series "Treme" set in his hometown by the creator of "The Wire" David Simon.

'Cat kept it swinging'
Its star Wendell Pierce paid tribute to his unique personality Friday -- "You were a cat who always kept it swinging" -- while Simon tweeted that trying to write dialogue for such a virtuoso jive talker was "an errand for a fool's fool.

"No one talked like him," he added.

"Even by (the) standards (of) the mangled patois of run-amok Crescent City verbiage, he has his own language."

Dr. John's music similarly defied convention.

"His funky approach to blending musical styles and imaginative persona helped diversify the New Orleans Sound," said Neil Portnow, of the Recording Academy, which awarded him six Grammys over the years.

With his funk-rock hoodoo style, he established himself as one of New Orlean's most important musicians, in the footsteps of other keyboard masters like Domino.

Dr. John was a major feature at international jazz festivals and was known for mingling English with French Creole and African patois in a cultural mix specific to New Orleans and its multicultural history.


© Agence France-Presse