Mick Ralphs, whose guitar play and songwriting shaped two classic British bands, Bad Company and Mott the Hoople, died. A spokesman for the Ralphs family confirmed the message to the Rolling Stone. Ralphs turned 81.
In 2016, Ralphs suffered a stroke after a number of Bad Company concerts in the United Kingdom and was taken to the hospital. According to lead singer Paul Rodgers, who founded Bad Company together with Ralphs in 1973, Ralphs has lived in a nursing home in recent years. Bad Company was recently elected to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and are to be recorded at the ceremony in November.
“Our mick left us”
“Our mick went from us, my heart sank to the ground,” said Rodgers in an explanation. “He left us extraordinary songs and memories. He was my friend, my songwriting partner, a great and versatile guitarist with the best humor. Our last conversation ended a few days ago with a laugh, but it will not have been our last. Many memories of Mick will make us laugh. My condolences to everyone who loved him-especially his great love, especially his great love, especially [Ralphs’ Ehefrau] Susie. We see each other in heaven. “
In addition to his striking riffs and Powerchords, Ralphs also wrote classics of the band like “Can’t Get Enough”, “Ready for Love” and “Good Lovin ‘Gone Bad” and was a co-author of “Bad Company” and “Feel Like Makin’ Love”. Ralphs was also a founding member of Mott the Hoople and played on the first six albums of the band, including “All The Young Dudes”, which was produced by David Bowie.
Early success with Mott the Hoople
“I think it is very versatile and his sound is very changeable – he always finds the perfect access to a song,” said Rodgers in an interview last year. “Whether it’s’ can’t get enough ‘,’ Bad Company ‘,’ Feel Like Makin ‘Love’ or ‘Shooting Star’ – you can see immediately: This is Mick Ralphs.”
Ralphs was born on March 31, 1944 and already played as a teenager in several bands before becoming a member of Silence, a band from Hereford near Wales. When singer Ian Hunter joined the band in 1969, they changed their name to Mott the Hoople (according to a novel by Willard Manus). In this volume, Ralphs wrote one of the first standards, “Rock and Roll Queen”, and contributed to the band’s glitter outfits. (“Ready for Love” was originally also recorded by Mott.)
Dispute with Ian Hunter and a new beginning with Bad Company
Tensions between Hunter and Ralphs meant that the guitarist left the band in 1973. “I used to always feel part of mott, but things have changed a lot,” Ralphs told Rolling Stone at the time. “Ian has now taken over the initiative, which is great for the band as a whole, but not so good for me as an individual. I should sing and write more, but instead of constantly arguing with Ian, I thought it is better if I just go.”
By chance, Ralphs had already met Paul Rodgers, who was frustrated by his own band Free, even though they had a huge success with “All Right Now”. “I spoke to Paul and he felt a bit like me,” Ralphs told Rolling Stone in 1974. “We were both in situations in which we were not quite free to do what we really wanted.” Ralphs stayed with Mott The Hoople until the “Mott” album was completed, and a recording of a studio kick between Hunter and Ralph was used in the song “Violence” – exactly the song that contested.
Success with Bad Company
With drummer Simon Kirke and bassist Boz Burrell, Ralphs founded Bad Company 1974. Compared to other so -called supergroups of the time, the band was musically and in the appearance. Thanks to the support of the LED-Zeppelin manager Peter Grant and the new label Swan Song (also founded by Zeppelin), her self-titled debut album in 1974 landed with “Can’t Get Enough” directly in 1st place on the billboard charts.
Rodgers said about “Can’t Get Enough” in the Liner Notes of a bad company anthology: “I remember how he played it out. I was absolutely certain that it would be a hit. It was one of the reasons why I thought we had a future together.”
Earthy sound instead of glam rock
Compared to Mott the Hoople, the music of Bad Company was earthy and less striking. “This whole glittering stuff!” Said Ralphs 1974. “Since David Bowie, that’s a passé.” Ralphs is also attributed to giving the band its name: After Rodgers told him that he had written a song called “Bad Company”, Ralphs insisted that this should also be the band name. But as the reserved Ralphs said in 1978: “This cannot be taken literally; we don’t come to a city and beat people.”
Withdrawal and later years
After the original line -up of Bad Company had dissolved in the early 1980s, Ralphs recorded a solo album, but soon founded the band with Kirke and changing singers. The group released four more albums from the eighties, but in 1990 Ralphs did without a tour because he was never a fan of tour life and had to take care of his sick father.
Remaining loyal to his reserved being, Ralphs regularly returned to the studio and on the stage with Bad Company in the following decades and even appeared again with Hunter in the United Kingdom. But after several concerts in November 2016, his family announced that Ralphs had suffered a stroke from which he never completely recovered.
Farewell to a quiet guitar hero
At the beginning of this year, Ralph’s “Billboard” had sent an email in which he expressed his joy about the adoption of the band to the Hall of Fame: “I am thrilled and find it fantastic that Bad Company will be included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!” Ralphs leaves his wife Susie Chavasse, two children and three stepchildren.