The Latest: Reaction to the death of a ‘night tripper’

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Latest on the death of Mac Rebennack, the New Orleans musician better known as Dr. John (all times local):

6 p.m.

Louisiana’s governor is remembering the musician known as Dr. John as “a true Louisiana legend.”

Gov. John Bel Edwards issued the statement Thursday evening. It came soon after news broke that the musician whose real name was Mac Rebennack, had died of a heart attack.

Another New Orleans musical star, Irma Thomas, told New Orleans television station WVUE that Dr. John was loved by fans around the world. She described the man who was also known as the “night tripper” as “a mystical person.”

There was also this from Ringo Starr on Twitter: ’God bless Dr. John peace and love to all his family. ...”

Dr. John was 77.

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5 p.m.

The family of the Louisiana-born musician known as Dr. John says the celebrated singer and piano player who blended black and white musical influence with a hoodoo-infused stage persona and gravelly bayou drawl, has died. He was 77.

A family statement released by his publicist says Dr. John, who was born Mac Rebennack, died early Thursday of a heart attack.

His spooky “Gris Gris Gumbo Ya Ya” slithered onto the pop-dominated market in 1968, startling listeners with its sinister implications of other-worldly magic.

In a career marked by drug addiction, he later had a Top 10 hit with “Right Place, Wrong Time.” He collaborated with numerous top-tier rockers, won multiple Grammy awards and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.