Bob Welch has died

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

Apparently he's a guy who writes for Marvel Comics. I could see him being a friend of Bob's.

Well, and some of us have been speculating(in text, not here), that his suicide may have been due to being terminally ill(I know he's been sick, and recently had surgery).

Not that that lessens the impact of his loss, but for me at least, if I knew that the suicide was to avoid the wasting away that cancer causes, at least it might make a little bit more sense. Unless his family, or a close friend, discloses the truth, we'll probably never know.

A tragedy, nonetheless.

[SummerlongBoots]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

Apparently he's a guy who writes for Marvel Comics. I could see him being a friend of Bob's.

Oh, okay. Thanks for responding. I didn't want to post anything false or misleading, but it was the first I'd heard of his "health issues" and I was kinda curious.

[The Catdancer]

http://www.legacy.com/memorial-sites...RckU0+WA%3D%3D

You can sign the guestbook.

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

Relax. I'm sure he's just in more shock than Stevie. He'll say SOMETHING. When has Mick ever been at a loss for words?

It's still odd that Stevie is the only one who has been quoted anywhere.

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

Well, and some of us have been speculating(in text, not here), that his suicide may have been due to being terminally ill(I know he's been sick, and recently had surgery).

Not that that lessens the impact of his loss, but for me at least, if I knew that the suicide was to avoid the wasting away that cancer causes, at least it might make a little bit more sense. Unless his family, or a close friend, discloses the truth, we'll probably never know.

A tragedy, nonetheless.

That's what I was thinking, though there are less awful ways to go about it.

[CADreaming]

Ex-Fleetwood Mac member Bob Welch dead


By Piya Sinha-Roy

LOS ANGELES | Thu Jun 7, 2012 9:21pm EDT

(Reuters) - Bob Welch, an early member of rock band Fleetwood Mac who enjoyed a successful solo career with hits such as "Ebony Eyes," died on Thursday of an apparent suicide at home in Nashville. He was 66.

Police said Welch's body was found by his wife Wendy with a single gunshot wound to the chest, and he had left a suicide note. Welch suffered from health problems, but police did not disclose what those issues were.

Mick Fleetwood, one of the founding members of Fleetwood Mac and Welch's manager during his solo career, had remained in close contact with his former band mate over the years and told Reuters that Welch's suicide was "incredibly out of character."

"He was a very, very profoundly intelligent human being and always in good humor, which is why this is so unbelievably shocking," he said.

"He was a huge part of our history which sometimes gets forgotten ... mostly his legacy would be his songwriting abilities that he brought to Fleetwood Mac, which will survive all of us," Fleetwood said.

"If you look into our musical history, you'll see a huge period that was completely ensconced in Bob's work."

Welch is the second member of Fleetwood Mac to die this year. In January, another former guitarist for the band, Bob Weston, died in London from a gastrointestinal hemorrhage, at the age of 64.

Welch was born on August 31, 1945 in Los Angeles to movie producer father Robert L. Welch and actress mother Templeton Fox. He moved to Paris to study French at the Sorbonne, then returned to Los Angeles in the early 1970s.

He was invited to join Fleetwood Mac after the departure of founding members Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer. He played guitar and was a vocalist with the band from 1971 to 1974, working on five of their early albums including 1971's "Future Games," 1972's "Bare Trees" and 1973's "Mystery to Me."

It was after Welch's departure from the band in 1975 that Fleetwood Mac went on to find its largest measure of fame on albums such as 1977's "Rumours" with the addition of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks to the band's lineup.

Nicks released a statement, calling Welch's death "devastating."

"He was an amazing guitar player - he was funny, sweet - and he was smart - I'm so very sorry for his family and for the family of Fleetwood Mac - so, so sad," Nicks said.

Welch fell out with his former band mates after suing the group in 1994 for unpaid royalties, which led to his exclusion from the group's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 1998.

The singer and guitarist formed a hard rock group called Paris in 1975, releasing two albums, "Paris" and "Hunt Sales," before disbanding the group a few years later and embarking on a solo career.

His debut solo record, the pop-driven "French Kiss" in 1977, went platinum and produced the hits "Sentimental Lady," "Ebony Eyes" and "Hot Love, Cold World." Welch followed up with 1979's "Three Hearts," and four more albums throughout the early 1980s, none of which emulated the same success as "French Kiss."

He moved to Phoenix, Arizona, in 1987 and formed a short-lived group called Avenue M, before moving to Nashville in the late 1990s, working on a songwriting career and releasing a tribute to bebop music, "Bob Welch Looks At Bop," in 1999.

His most recent albums, 2003's "His Fleetwood Mac Years and Beyond" and 2006's "His Fleetwood Mac Years and Beyond 2," had previously unreleased material as well as new compositions.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy and Bob Tourtellotte; Editing by Bernard Orr, Vicki Allen and David Brunnstrom)

[elle]

this is so sad.

[aleuzzi]

Oops. CADreaming just posted a link to a new article I was posting. So, I deleted mine.

I'm glad to see Mick offer these words. It gives me some relief.

[elle]

Originally Posted by CADreaming

Ex-Fleetwood Mac member Bob Welch dead


By Piya Sinha-Roy

LOS ANGELES | Thu Jun 7, 2012 9:21pm EDT

(Reuters) - Bob Welch, an early member of rock band Fleetwood Mac who enjoyed a successful solo career with hits such as "Ebony Eyes," died on Thursday of an apparent suicide at home in Nashville. He was 66.

Police said Welch's body was found by his wife Wendy with a single gunshot wound to the chest, and he had left a suicide note. Welch suffered from health problems, but police did not disclose what those issues were.

Mick Fleetwood, one of the founding members of Fleetwood Mac and Welch's manager during his solo career, had remained in close contact with his former band mate over the years and told Reuters that Welch's suicide was "incredibly out of character."

"He was a very, very profoundly intelligent human being and always in good humor, which is why this is so unbelievably shocking," he said.

"He was a huge part of our history which sometimes gets forgotten ... mostly his legacy would be his songwriting abilities that he brought to Fleetwood Mac, which will survive all of us," Fleetwood said.

"If you look into our musical history, you'll see a huge period that was completely ensconced in Bob's work."

Welch is the second member of Fleetwood Mac to die this year. In January, another former guitarist for the band, Bob Weston, died in London from a gastrointestinal hemorrhage, at the age of 64.

Welch was born on August 31, 1945 in Los Angeles to movie producer father Robert L. Welch and actress mother Templeton Fox. He moved to Paris to study French at the Sorbonne, then returned to Los Angeles in the early 1970s.

He was invited to join Fleetwood Mac after the departure of founding members Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer. He played guitar and was a vocalist with the band from 1971 to 1974, working on five of their early albums including 1971's "Future Games," 1972's "Bare Trees" and 1973's "Mystery to Me."

It was after Welch's departure from the band in 1975 that Fleetwood Mac went on to find its largest measure of fame on albums such as 1977's "Rumours" with the addition of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks to the band's lineup.

Nicks released a statement, calling Welch's death "devastating."

"He was an amazing guitar player - he was funny, sweet - and he was smart - I'm so very sorry for his family and for the family of Fleetwood Mac - so, so sad," Nicks said.

Welch fell out with his former band mates after suing the group in 1994 for unpaid royalties, which led to his exclusion from the group's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 1998.

The singer and guitarist formed a hard rock group called Paris in 1975, releasing two albums, "Paris" and "Hunt Sales," before disbanding the group a few years later and embarking on a solo career.

His debut solo record, the pop-driven "French Kiss" in 1977, went platinum and produced the hits "Sentimental Lady," "Ebony Eyes" and "Hot Love, Cold World." Welch followed up with 1979's "Three Hearts," and four more albums throughout the early 1980s, none of which emulated the same success as "French Kiss."

He moved to Phoenix, Arizona, in 1987 and formed a short-lived group called Avenue M, before moving to Nashville in the late 1990s, working on a songwriting career and releasing a tribute to bebop music, "Bob Welch Looks At Bop," in 1999.

His most recent albums, 2003's "His Fleetwood Mac Years and Beyond" and 2006's "His Fleetwood Mac Years and Beyond 2," had previously unreleased material as well as new compositions.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy and Bob Tourtellotte; Editing by Bernard Orr, Vicki Allen and David Brunnstrom)

thanks for sharing. i was looking for something with more information than that repeated statement reported by all sources during the day.

[blackcat]

Originally Posted by Amlyn

Deep down I hope he knew just how many people he touched with his musical contributions. His memory will live on through all of us every time we listen to a song he wrote or played on.

Rest in Peace Bob.

It's hard to know for sure, but he had this to say about the people here on the Penguin:

This whole 2 week q&a feels like a " coming out" party to me, because everyone has been so supportive ! It makes me feel that everything I've done musically in my past, hasn't been "for nothing". and that's a good feeling. believe me !
-Bob Welch

That's pretty amazing.

Good to see you Marty. Thank you for setting that all up. My late grandfather said after a while, you only get to see the whole family at weddings and funerals.
love, blackcat

[CADreaming]

Originally Posted by elle

thanks for sharing. i was looking for something with more information than that repeated statement reported by all sources during the day.

I can't believe this. It's so horribly sad.

[SteveMacD]

EDIT: since Mick actually spoke...

When Stevie says "the Fleetwood Mac family," I think she's mostly talking about the band and crew from the Welch years specifically. Touring is like a family.

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

That's what I was thinking, though there are less awful ways to go about it.

Indeed there are, and I will choose one of those methods, if I ever have to. (if I were terminally ill, and heading down the end of the journey, I'd do it, too)

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

Well, and some of us have been speculating(in text, not here), that his suicide may have been due to being terminally ill(I know he's been sick, and recently had surgery).

Not that that lessens the impact of his loss, but for me at least, if I knew that the suicide was to avoid the wasting away that cancer causes, at least it might make a little bit more sense.

Yes, I feel the same way. If it was emotional despair, it seems like such a waste because there are so many people who would reach out to you if they really knew you were in that kind of mental pain.

But a physical problem is a different story. If someone chooses to face death that way, rather than wasting away from a terminal illness and they do what they think will preserve their own dignity, then I respect that choice and the need to determine your own fate. No hospice. I get that.

Michele

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by Silver Springs

What's happening to the Bob's of Fleetwood Mac? First Brunning and Weston, now Welch.

I didn't realize about the Bob's. Coincidence.. but scary.

What's going on this year? Whitney, Robin, Donna.. now Bob Welch. Even latin american singers.. each month I read a sad new of someone leaving us.