Midnight Oil bassist Bones Hillman dies, age 62

Midnight Oil's bass player, Bones Hillman, has died aged 62 from cancer.

The news broke on the band's Twitter account on Sunday, with a tweet saying that Hillman died at his home in Milwaukee, USA.

"He was the bassist with the beautiful voice, the band member with the wicked sense of humour, and our brilliant musical comrade," the tweet continued.

"Bones joined Midnight Oil way back in 1987 after stints in various Kiwi bands, most notably, The Swingers. He played and sang on every Midnight Oil recording since Blue Sky Mining and we did thousands of gigs together."

Hillman –– who was born in Auckland in 1958 as Wayne Stevens –– played with Midnight Oil for 15 years. He replaced Peter Gifford as bass player in 1987.

He recalled that he was in Melbourne living with iconic musician Neil Finn when he got a call to join the iconic Australian band.

After 15 years playing together, the band took a break in 2002 while frontman Peter Garrett focused on a career in politics. They reunited for a tour in 2018.