Former radio personality Mark Parenteau, a Worcester native, has died from complications following a long illness, according to his brother, Barry Parenteau. He was 66.

“Parenteau grew up in Worcester's Main South,” wrote Paul Della Valle, in a 1990 article for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. “His mother hosted a women's talk show on WAAB in the '50s. Parenteau got his start in radio when he was 7, doing Meola's Dairy commercials for her show. When he was 15, Parenteau became Scotty Wainwright on weekends on WORC, the all-request Top 40 station that had a 70 percent market share here. He left Worcester for Detroit in 1971, stayed a few years, got divorced, and came back east to Boston's WCOZ. In 1978 he landed at WBCN, the job he always wanted.”

And it was a storied career, one that had him sometimes deemed “the sixth member of Aerosmith,” and saw him interviewing the likes of Frank Zappa, John Lennon, Arlo Guthrie, Peter Wolf and Yoko Ono.

“He was a very funny and unique person,” said Worcester music veteran “Mayor” L.B. Worm. “One of my all-time favorite deejays.”

After leaving WBCN, Parenteau went on to host shows for Q104 in New York and XM Radio, among others, until he was arrested in 2004, pleading guilty to a single count of child sexual abuse. He was released in 2006.

Worcester musician and comedian Niki Luparelli, who met him at a Robby Road Steamer event she had invited him to speak at in 2010, emphasizes how influential he was to the music scene.

“He broke so many bands back then,” says Luparelli. “Deejays had power, they picked their own music … He’d pick what he considered the hit off the album. He broke KISS, he was doing stuff with Aerosmith. Everybody famous has sat on his couch. He saved every recording from every show he’s ever done. Reel-to-reels … Everything is there. They weren’t organized. There were gold records everywhere that people had given him, pictures with every celebrity you can think of.”

Email Victor D. Infante at Victor.Infante@Telegram.com and follow him on Twitter @ocvictor.