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"&lt;strong&gt;&lt;img alt=\"Bob Birch played bass with Elton John and Billy Joel.\" src=\"http://ll-media.tmz.com/2012/08/15/0815-bob-birch-getty-3.jpg\" /&gt;Robert Wayne Birch&lt;/strong&gt;, a bass guitarist who played with&lt;strong&gt; Elton John&lt;/strong&gt; and&lt;strong&gt; Billy Joel&lt;/strong&gt; among many other huge artists, is dead after apparently having shot and killed himself this morning ... TMZ has learned.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Law enforcement sources tell us ... Birch was found around the corner from his home, dead from a gunshot wound to the head.&amp;#160; We're told all signs point to a self-inflicted wound.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We're told authorities have not found a suicide note and there were no apparent signs of drug use.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Birch has been playing with Elton John since 1992, and was also involved in the biggest single of all time, \"Candle in the Wind 1997.\"&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Birch has also performed with legends like Tina Turner, Stevie Wonder, Eric Clapton, John Mayer, Cher, Sting, The Backstreet Boys, The Spice Girls, Clint Black and many others.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here's Birch with Elton last year on David Letterman -- one of their final live performances together.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;iframe width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/embed/Bf2Qjf52E38\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a class=\"lightbox-link\" href=\"http://www.tmz.com/photos/2012/08/15/bob-birch-playing-elton-john/\"&gt;&lt;img alt=\"0815_bob_birch_elton_john_footer_v3\" src=\"http://ll-media.tmz.com/2012/08/15/0815-bob-birch-elton-john-footer-v3-1.jpg\" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.tmz.com/2012/08/15/elton-john-band-member-commits-suicide-dead-dies/>