Yunupingu died overnight at his Northern Territory home after years fighting kidney disease.
Yothu Yindi is Australia's most influential Indigenous band and the band was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2012. The band have won eight ARIA awards and been nominated 14 times.
"My heart is full of joy. I am so happy to see that in my lifetime Indigenous music has come such a long way," said Yunupingu after being recognised. "To have these talented artists come together to honour the groundbreaking work of Yothu Yindi makes me proud beyond words. Yo Manymak."
Yunupingu was born in an Aboriginal reserve in Yirrkala, Arnhem Land, on September 17, 1956.
A member of the Gumatj clan of the Yirritja moiety, his ancestral totem was the "baru", or saltwater crocodile. His surname, Yunupingu, translates as "rock that will stand against anything".
Yunupingu began teaching at the Yirrkala School in his early twenties, becoming the first indigenous Australian appointed as a school principal after receiving a Bachelor of Education in 1987.
He developed a progressive curriculum that straddled Western and Aboriginal traditions. The same could be said for his songwriting style, which fused rock and pop with Aboriginal music.
Yunupingu formed Yothu Yindi in 1986 with Stuart Kellaway, Cal Williams, Witiyana Marika, Milkayngu Mununggurr and Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, under a banner of uniting cultures.
Aided by Paul Kelly, the band wrote their signature song Treaty to highlight the Hawke government's promise of a treaty for Aboriginal people, something they apparently heard about "on the radio".
Released in 1991, it peaked at No.11 on the Australian singles chart and went on to become a timeless protest song in the campaign for indigenous rights reform.
Yothu Yindi toured the US with Midnight Oil and famously performed Treaty at the launch the UN International Year of the World's Indigenous People in 1992.
Back home, they had the rare honour of performing above Nirvana at the first ever Big Day Out.
Yunupingu was named the 1992 Australian of the Year for his role in "building bridges of understanding between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people".
He always said he believed that life should be balanced and in harmony and that his mother taught him important Aboriginal ideas about how to live with people and with nature.
Yunupingu was also a committed philanthropist and established the Yothu Yindi Foundation as a vehicle for developing Yolngu cultural life.
As well as building the Yirrnga Music Development Centre, a state of the art recording studio, he established an indigenous recording program where members of Yothu Yindi toured schools.
"We have lost a uniquely talented musician, a passionate advocate for Aboriginal people and a truly great friend.
"He will also be remembered as a great educational leader and a champion for the Yolngu people in East Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory."
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott also paid his respects to the influential singer at a press conference today.
"He was a great leader of his people, he was obviously a very significant cultural figure to the wider Australian community as well as amongst aboriginal people," Mr Abbott said.
"It is tragic that he is gone.
"I guess it is very sad that he is gone at such an early age and this is one of the real problems in modern Australia. Too many aboriginal people die too young," he said.
Courtesy of news.com
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