Dennis Kennedy was the bass player in the band which performed in Wollongong in the early 1980s.

While they remain unknown to many people in their home town, their releases sell for hundreds of dollars on eBay and music aficionados have described their sound as decades ahead of its time.

Mr Kennedy was heavily involved in efforts to see the band’s back catalogue re-issued through a US label.

The reissues hit record stores earlier this year.

In recent years, Mr Kennedy had been living and working in Singapore and Malaysia.

According to Jon Knowles, a friend who has established a fund-raising effort for his family, Mr Kennedy was crossing the border back into Malaysia on the Friday evening last week.

He fell ill and died later that night. No autopsy was conducted but it is believed he died of a heart attack.

Sunday Painters guitarist Peter MacKinnon took to Facebook to say Mr Kennedy’s death had come as a shock, much like the 2008 death of another band member Peter Raengel.

‘‘If Peter was the intellectual and creative force of the band, Dennis was the driving force, the one who wanted us to make a go of it,’’ Mr MacKinnon wrote.

‘‘I’ve always felt Dennis was the member of the band who really wanted to be a rock star. I still meet Peter in my dreams and expect Dennis will now be there too.’’ 

Curator of last year’s Steel City Sound exhibition Warren Wheeler worked with Mr Kennedy  – in person and then online – while developing the project.

‘‘In all the crossing of emails and Facebook messages I found Dennis to be very genuine,’’ Mr Wheeler said.

‘‘He wore his heart on his sleeve. He never left me guessing as to what he was thinking. That’s not to say he was blunt. Rather he was a good, efficient communicator and would not waste his words on dancing around a subject.

‘‘I am proud to be able to call Dennis a friend. Distance may have prevented me from being as close to him as others, but his openness and warmth was crucial to me taking the first steps in Steel City Sound.’’

Mr Kennedy leaves behind Polly, his wife of four years, and an infant daughter in addition to his Australian daughter Jazz and her child.

Mr Knowles said Polly was having trouble obtaining her husband’s remains and dealing with the costs of the funeral.

‘‘Cremation, autopsy and associated expenses, Polly’s airfare to travel to Singapore from a remote province in the Philippines ... It all costs and must be paid for within a week of today!’’ Mr Knowles said on Facebook on Thursday.

To help his wife with these expenses, Mr Knowles has started a fundraising effort. See youcaring.com and search for ‘Remembering Dennis Kennedy’. Or donations via PayPal can be made with the email jon@jonknowles.com.