Fairyland's founder and keyboardist Philippe Giordana has died at the age of 44. Fairyland has not made a statement at this time and the cause of death is currently unknown; the news comes from French symphonic power metallers Kerion, whom Giordana joined as a guest musician on several albums.

Kerion comments: ''RIP Phil... Thanks for your friendship since the first days of Kerion ...Best Choirs ever... remember these pics from 2006 and a recording of Cloudriders part1 with Willdric Lievin ... great times



Giordana was the sole member of Fairyland to have played on each of the band's albums, and at the time of his passing was the member other than multi-instrumentalist Willdric Lievin to have been part of the band since its pre-Fairyland days as Fantasy, Fantasia, and Ferreol. He was also a member of Magic Kingdom and played keyboards on their 2010 album Symphony Of War, and he performed as a guest with several other artists.

UPDATE: Fairyland's official Facebook page has posted a statement from Willdric Lievin, who revealed that Giordana's death was the result of a lengthy illness. His statement reads as follows:

"Dear Fans and Friends.

I have the terrible news to announce that my friend and brother Philippe Giordana has passed away on Friday October 21th due to a terrible illness which he was fighting against for many months. I can’t tell you how terrible i feel those last days. It’s very difficult for me to write down all my thoughts without shedding a tear...

As far as i remember, i met Phil in 1997 when we both were in a band, and we used to play gigs together. And one night after our shows, we had a discussion about the fact that i had a dream to found a symphonic metal band with epic orchestrations and choirs, he was really enthusiastic about the idea, and by a pure hazard, he has some songs that will be on our first album « Of wars in Osyrhia». We spent 5 years making demos, and finally finished the album in 2003, which was a success, thanks to our label NTS, which did a fantastic promotion. Few month later we had the chance to do a tour supporting the band Sonata Arctica. That was a magic moment, like a dream come true…

But we where so young and we had internal conflict, so we decided to part away Phil and I. That was a very difficult moment…and we both had regrets.

Many years ago, we decided to work back again together on the 3rd album « Score to a new beginning » and it was like a rebirth, it was like we never get separated. That was a small part of our story which i wanted to tell you. We spent so many hours, days, months, years working, joking and sharing so many good times together…

Phil was one of the best person i had the chance to meet in my life. He was a pure genius as musician, but also a very smart person which you could spent hours talking about anything. He had an incredible global culture. A very sensitive person too with a giant heart, always here for you when you where down. I will miss him so much. You were so inspiring, and i could never thank you for all you brought to me, you’ve changed my life forever. I will need some time to recover from this moment but he asked me to continue our work on the 5th album helped by Peter Crowley, and I made him this promise. But for now i will try to make my mourning. All my thought are going to his wife Alicja and his family.

Rest in peace my brother, the world of music has lost a really talented musician…

I will always love you…

Willdric"

Source:	facebook.com
Band profile:	Fairyland