Brendan Berg obit

Royal Canoe's Brendan Berg Has Died

The 42-year-old bassist was involved in a car crash 

He was not on the list.

Royal Canoe bassist Brendan Berg has died at the age of 42. His bandmates announced his death on Instagram, writing that he had died in a car crash on the eve of his 43rd birthday. His partner Olivia Michalczuk also died in the accident.

UPDATE (7/3, 11:57 a.m. ET): A 29-year-old passenger in the southbound vehicle that collided with the vehicle carrying Berg and Michalczuk just north of Bowsman on July 1 has also died, the Winnipeg Free Press reports.

In a statement, the band wrote on Instagram that Berg was "the kindest, sweetest man you could ever know, and his passing has left an enormous and sudden hole in the lives of everyone who knew him."

Royal Canoe celebrated Berg's "relentless positivity, big smile, and considerate nature," calling him a "stabilizing and inspiring force for us." They also praised his musicianship, his "innate ability to make new friends and maintain those friendships across distance and time," his "adventurous spirit," and called him the "restaurant guy" of the band. They shared a quote from the Sparklehorse song "Gold Day" and shared condolences for Berg's mother Louise and brother Stephen, as well as Michalczuk's family.

Michalczuk was a journalist who served as a juror for the Polaris Music Prize.

CBC reports that police responded to a head-on collision at 3:30 p.m. on Canada Day on Manitoba's Highway 10, near the small community of Bowsman and about 280 kilometres northwest of Brandon. Both vehicles were in a ditch when police arrived, with Berg and Michalczuk's overturned. Police believe that one of the cars was parked by the side of the highway, while the other car veered over the centre line and crashed into the parked car. The two people in the other car were taken to hospital with critical injuries.