Prominent artist and literary figure Remy Sylado died on Monday aged 77 after years of chronic illnesses.

Influential author, musician and artist Remy Sylado died on Monday at the age of 77 after suffering from a long spell of chronic illnesses.

The news of Remy's passing was confirmed by his colleague and Indonesian theater figure Jose Rizal Manua to Kompas.com, and was first broken by politician Fadli Zon on Twitter.

“Farewell Bang [brother] Remy Sylado. Just a few days ago, I was chatting with you about Elvis Presley and his manager Colonel Tom Parker. RIP,” Fadli tweeted.

Born in Makassar on July 12, 1945, as Yapi Panda Abdiel Tambayong, the author published his works under many pen names. Remy Sylado, his most-known pseudonym, was inspired by the British rock band The Beatles’ opening musical notes of their song “And I Love Her” (re-mi-ti-la-do).

Well-versed in arts and literature, Remy started off as a journalist for Tempo magazine and Sinar Indonesia in the early 1960s. He eventually became Tempo’s editor-in-chief in 1965 and editor of several magazines like Aktuil after moving to Bandung in the 1970s. Remy started scoring and writing screenplays for films during that time, like the 1977’s Duo Kribo (The Curlies Duo).

Remy was also an award-winning and prolific novelist. Some of his novels, like the 1977’s Gali Lobang, Gila Lobang (Digging and Obsessed with Holes) and 1999’s Ca-Bau-Kan (The Courtesan) have been adapted into feature films by local auteurs Sjumandjaja and Nia Dinata. He moved to Jakarta in the early 1980s and formed his own theater group. By that time, he had musically contributed to 13 cassette albums of his own and other musicians.

Remy also began his acting career in 1986’s Tinggal Sesaat Lagi (Just A Moment More), one of the three acting stints that got him nominated for Best Supporting Actor in the Indonesian Film Festival (FFI).

But Remy is most remembered and highly regarded as an important literary figure who came up with mbeling (Javanese for naughty) poetry in the 1970s – a poetic form characterized by its critical, rebellious nature that playfully navigated these topics with cheekiness.

“[Remy’s mbeling poetry] greatly influenced the development of Indonesian literature. Many poets have been inspired by the mbeling idea; it broke the conventions of poetry that existed then,” prominent poet Sapardi Djoko Damono said to The Jakarta Post in 1999.

In recent years, Remy was known to suffer from hernia, cataracts and strokes, making regular visits to the hospital. But the hospital treatment stopped as his family ran out of funds.

Remy was treated at the Tarakan Regional General Hospital (RSUD), Jakarta, for 10 days receiving open hernia surgery on Jan. 18 after then-Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan visited him. Remy’s wife Emmy Tambayong said the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government covered the expenses for the author's treatment.

“We wanted to go to the hospital but were hindered by the costs. He was treated at home for more than a year due to our financial difficulties,” Emmy said on Jan. 19, as quoted by Kompas.com.

But despite the surgery, the artist remained ill in his last months treated at home.

Condolences for Remy poured in from the arts and literary world.

“Farewell, legend,” established novelist Okky Madasari said on Twitter.

“All of us from PARFI bid you farewell. May the works that you left behind be counted as good deeds, and may they be a standard for us to learn,” Evry Joe, film producer and spokesperson of the Indonesian Film Artists Association (PARFI) said to JawaPos.com.

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