Sonic Youth pair to divorce...band up in the air

NORTHAMPTON, Massachusetts (Reuters) - Sonic Youth co-founders Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon have separated after 27 years of marriage and the future of the noise-rock band is uncertain, its label's parent company said on Saturday.

Sonic Youth, including indie-rock pioneers Moore and Gordon, will go ahead with its South American tour in November as planned, Catherine Herrick, a spokeswoman for Beggars Group, the owner of the band's Matador label, said in a statement.

The couple, "married in 1984, are announcing they have separated," the statement said.

"Plans beyond that (November) tour are uncertain. The couple has requested respect for their personal privacy and does not wish to issue further comment."

Sonic Youth's tour has five dates, starting with a November 5 show in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and concluding on November 14 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Gordon, 58, and Moore, 53, co-founded the quartet in 1980 in New York amid the so-called "no wave" movement.

Moore and Lee Ranaldo were on guitars and Gordon played bass. Drummer Steve Shelley joined later.

The pair first met when Gordon played in a band named CKM. "I guess it was love at first sight," she said in the 2001 book "Our Band Could Be Your Life."

Moore and Gordon live in Northampton, Mass., with their daughter, Coco, 17, who is a singer with the local band Big Nils.

Sonic Youth's 16th record was "The Eternal" in 2009. (Reporting by Zach Howard; Editing by Ian Simpson)