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Everyone in Washington’s tightknit go-go community knew Derek Colquitt simply as “House.” It was a fitting nickname for the formidable bass player, the big man who held down the rhythm for D.C.’s Junkyard Band, one of the marquee groups of the syncopated, percussion-fueled music style that has provided a soundtrack for Washington since the 1970s.

Now a fixture of that world is gone. Colquitt, 47, and his girlfriend, Jeri Lanelle Whorton, 34, were killed in a fiery motorcycle crash Sunday afternoon in Charles County, Md. Colquitt’s Harley-Davidson smashed into the rear of a Dodge Ram truck that was stopped in a left-turn lane on southbound U.S. Route 301 in Waldorf just before 4 p.m. Police are still investigating the crash but said speed was a factor. The driver of the truck suffered minor injuries.

News of the deaths spread rapidly among family, friends, fans and the many members and former members of the band. All of them are grieving.

“It’s just so messed up that he’s gone,” said Patriya Colquitt, 20, one of Colquitt’s 14 children. “He respected everybody, and he loved what he did for the community. He loved being in the band because he knew the music made people happy. It made them feel better.”

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The day before the crash, the 10 members of the Junkyard Band had performed an afternoon concert in Washington as part of the Funk Parade. Later that night they traveled to Winchester, Va., to perform another show. They didn’t return until 4 or 5 a.m., said the band’s keyboardist, Gerald Lattimore, who is known in the band as “211.” He was still trying to absorb his bandmate’s death.

“You try not to believe it,” Lattimore said. “I was like, ‘Nah, I just saw him last night, that can’t be him.’ ”

Lattimore, a truck driver who works an early shift, said he called Colquitt every morning at 7 to wake him up, and then they’d talk for a bit.

“He was just a real cool guy,” Lattimore said. “A real fun guy to be onstage with. He was really loved by a lot of fans.”

Colquitt, a longtime fan of the Junkyard Band who joined the group in 1998, had served as the band’s manager since 2012. In that role, he ruled with a firm hand, lining up six to 10 gigs a month and riding herd on the rest of the group.

“If we had to be at a show by 11, he’d tell us to be there by 9,” Lattimore said, laughing. “He didn’t put up with too much.”

The members of the band have changed over the years, but the group first came together as children in the early 1980s in Barry Farm, a public housing project in Southeast Washington. Drawn to the irrepressible go-go sound that was sweeping Washington at the time and unable to afford traditional instruments, the band’s members began pounding out go-go beats on buckets, hubcaps and other discards that earned the group its name.

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In 1986, the group’s fame spiked when esteemed New York hip-hop label Def Jam released the group’s signature single, “Sardines,” one of the few go-go songs to ever enjoy national radio airplay.

James Jasper, guitarist for the Junkyard Band since 2005, said that Colquitt, who grew up in Washington, started out as a percussionist in the 1980s. He picked up the bass in the 1990s and was a big fan of Rare Essence’s bass player, Funky Ned.

“He was a tough guy, a big guy, but you could always talk to him about anything,” said Jasper, who looked up to Colquitt as an older-brother figure. “That’s why it’s such a devastating feeling. It feels like we’re losing a family member. It really hurts.”

The band, which is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, has experienced numerous tragedies, said longtime member Warren Weems, who goes by “Black Pooh.”

Three of its founding members — Willie Gaston Jr., a drummer known as “Heavy One,” vocalist Derrick “Lil Derrick” Ingram, and vocalist Shelton “Shorty Pop” Watkins — were shot and killed in separate incidents in the 1990s. Damon Scott, a multi-instrumentalist, was run over on his motorcycle in the early 2000s. Jerome Hicks, a keyboardist, died of kidney failure two years ago. For Weems, adding Colquitt to the list of members who have died is especially painful.

“I miss him so much already. He meant everything,” said Weems, who described Colquitt as someone who did impressions of people and sent funny texts.

“He should have been a comedian,” said Weems. “He always made me laugh. It made you can’t wait to see him again.”

The death of Colquitt’s girlfriend in the crash has also hit band members hard, Weems said. “She was a beautiful woman with a beautiful spirit and a beautiful heart. It’s just a terrible loss. These are two good, good people, and it’s hard to find good, good people.”

Whorton graduated from Washington-Lee High School in Arlington. She was a hairstylist and had a 15-year-old son, said Iris Long, a longtime friend who works in IT at The Washington Post.

Ron Moten, a longtime activist in the District and the founder of Peaceoholics, said Monday that Colquitt always helped with community events.

“Whenever I needed him, he was there,” Moten said. “A real good guy. He was like the father figure who kept everything together.”

The Junkyard Band’s Facebook page was transformed Monday into a Colquitt tribute. “RIP House,” fans wrote.

Members of the band were planning to gather Monday night, but one thing is certain, Weems said: The band will go on.

“We have no choice,” he said. “We’re musicians. This is our life. This is what we were put here to do.”

Chris Richards contributed to this report.

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