Joey Molland, musician, the last surviving core member of The Beatles-signed rock band, played on singles like "Day After Day," "Baby Blue," and John Lennon's "Jealous Guy".
Badfinger was best known for the late ’60s/early ’70s hits “No Matter What You Do,” “Day After Day,” “Come and Get It” and “Baby Blue.” Molland did not sing lead on the original recordings of those classic songs, but ably took on that duty in concerts for decades to come, touring the band’s catalog and his own solo material on up through the summer of 2024, becoming a cult figure among fans of that era’s music for his good will and enthusiasm in keeping the Badfinger flag flying.
Sunday morning, Molland’s social media manager posted: “It is with profound sadness to inform his fans here on IG, and around the world, that Joey (Joseph Charles) Molland passed away last night at 11:39 pm CST, after a 3+ months long battle with multiple health issues.
No cause of death was given as part of that statement. But in a GoFundMe post in January, his girlfriend Mary revealed that, after feeling “vaguely ill” through the fall after wrapping up his last tour, he was in the ICU and had “acquired a very bad bacterial infection due to his diabetes. The infection caused septicemia and traveled through his body, causing harm in multiple critical organs and bones. His recovery has been slow and arduous, including several surgeries and procedures. As you all know, Joey is a strong-willed, independent man. He is fighting with everything he has, but every day is a battle.”
Molland had been active as a touring musician and frontman through last September. The band that toured under the name Joey Molland’s Badfinger had been out on the road throughout summer 2024 playing amphitheaters mid-size theaters and fairs on the Happy Together Tour, which also featured the Turtles, the Association and other acts best known for hits in the ’60s and ’70s.
The Welsh-bred Badfinger was initially signed to the Beatles‘ Apple Records label and first hit the top 10 in 1969 with the Paul McCartney-penned “Come and Get It,” which reached No. 7 in the U.S. and No. 4 in the U.K. A followup, 1970’s “No Matter What,” did nearly as well on both continents, and the band’s trio of international hits was completed in 1971 with “Day After Day,” which gave Badfinger its biggest Billboard Hot 100 success with a No. 4 peak.
Members of the Beatles took a strong interest in Badfinger that went beyond just signing the group to Apple. Besides McCartney’s songwriting contribution for their first hit, George Harrison produced some of the group’s second album (which also featured production by Todd Rundgren.
Molland and Evans were called in as session players on two post-Beatles solo projects, John Lennon’s “Imagine” (work on “Jealous Guy”) and Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass.” Molland was also among the musicians for Harrison’s “Concert for Bangladesh” concert.
Molland had been active on package tours in which he was able to sing the songs of Badfinger.
One such tour, in 2019, had him reuniting with Badfinger’s former producer, Todd Rundgren, along with Micky Dolenz and Christopher Cross, on a tribute to the Beatles’ White Album where band members also played their own songs.
No comments:
Post a Comment