Big Bank Hank of The Sugarhill Gang Dies at 57

Big Bank Hank

Roger Goodgroves/UPPA/Zuma Press

By Sheila Cosgrove Baylis

@sheilabot

11/11/2014 AT 04:50 PM EST

Big Bank Hank, one of the three members of the pioneering hip-hop group The Sugarhill Gang, has died of cancer. He was 57.

Hank, whose real name was Henry Jackson, helped the hip-hop genre to burst through into mainstream music with the band's 1979 hit, "Rapper's Delight."

The rapper died Tuesday, and the other two members of the group, Guy "Master Gee" O'Brien and Michael "Wonder Mike" Wright, were notified that morning, according to Rolling Stone .

"So sad to hear about our brothers passing," his bandmates said in a statement to the magazine. "The three of us created musical history together with the release of 'Rapper's Delight.' We will always remember traveling the world together and rocking the house. Rest in peace, Big Bank."

The funeral will be held in Englewood, New Jersey, where all three of the band's members are from.