Photo by Sally Lyndley

After months of fighting a rare form of cancer, School of Seven Bells' Benjamin Curtis has lost his fight.

According to Oklahoma Rock, the Oklahoma native passed away Sunday night at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. As we previously reported, the band revealed in February that Curtis had been diagnosed with a rare—although treatable—type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

The band followed on Monday night with a statement confirming Curtis' passing, which can be read below.

Curtis formed the band Secret Machines with his brothers in 2000, before later linking up with sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza to form School of Seven Bells, releasing three albums together.

Dear friends,

Last night, Dec. 29th 2013, we lost our friend and brother Benjamin Curtis to his fight against cancer.

While we had hoped to delay this announcement until a more suitable time when his friends and family could feel better prepared and settled to greet any correspondences from folks attempting to reach out, unfortunately the news has prematurely leaked. So we felt it would be appropriate to at least offer an official acknowledgement from us, in light of all the fans who loved and supported Benjamin and his music.

We kindly ask that his immediate family, friends & bandmates' privacy be respected during this time, and that instead, any inquires, well wishes, or notes-of-consolation be sent through School of Seven Bells’ management, where it can be shared with them at the suitable time. They can be sent to a special e-mail address here: sviib@wizkidmanagement.com

If relevant, further information will be made available through the suitable channels in the near future.

We can’t thank all of you who supported him and his music through the years enough. All of you who attended or participated in the various benefits in and around New York City over the past year since his diagnosis, and of course those who contributed and gave generously to help support him throughout that journey. You made it possible for all of us, and for him, to see how truly loved he was and how many lives he had touched through his music by your gestures. We will all miss this incredibly talented and rare person every day, but we are fortunate enough that he shared with us his music, and that is something that we can keep forever.