BUZZCOCKS frontman Pete Shelley has died aged 63, the band's management has said.

The Leigh-born musician reportedly died following a heart attack at his home in Estonia yesterday.

He formed the band in 1975 in Bolton with Howard Devoto.

In a statement released via Twitter, the group's management said: "It's with great sadness that we confirm the death of Pete Shelley, one of the UK's most influential and prolific songwriters and co-founder of the seminal original punk band Buzzcocks.

"Pete's music has inspired generations of musicians over a career that spanned five decades and with his band and as a solo artist, he was held in the highest regard by the music industry and by his fans around the world."

Norman Blake, frontman of Teenage Fanclub, paid tribute to the enduring musical legacy of Shelley.

He wrote on Twitter: "Not been on here for a while, but I can't not mark the passing of Pete Shelley. I love(d) Buzzcocks. His songs were important to me when I was a young man and they still are to me now. Thank you Pete and R.I.P. You will be missed."

Tracey Thorn, formerly one half of the dance music duo Everything But The Girl, also paid her respects, quoting from the Buzzcocks' track 16 Again.

She said: "Oh God but I loved Buzzcocks. And Pete Shelley was an amazing songwriter. "But after all life's only death's recompense." RIP."

Author Neil Gaiman tweeted: "Part of my youth dies with him. RIP Pete Shelley."

A petition has been set up by Paul Maiden to make a statue of Pete in Leigh.