Badfinger Guitarist Joey Molland Passes Away, Aged 77

Joey Molland, the guitarist of Welsh rockers Badfinger has passed away at the age of 77.

News of Molland’s death was confirmed via social media accounts of Molland and Badfinger, with the accounts’ moderator revealing that the veteran musician passed away on March 1st.

“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 11:39pm CST, after a 3+ months long battle with multiple health issues,” a post on Instagram read.

No cause of death was given in the official statement, but a GoFundMe launched by Molland’s girlfriend explained that he had been experiencing a “slow and arduous” recovery process after falling ill in recent months.

The fundraiser noted Molland had “acquired a very bad bacterial infection due to his diabetes” in December, before “the infection caused septicemia and traveled through his body, causing harm in multiple critical organs and bones”. He was later diagnosed with pneumonia and was reportedly “in and out of consciousness due to the multiple medical fronts his body [was] trying to address”.

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A post shared by Joey Molland (@badfingerjoey)

Molland began his musical career in 1965 at the age of 18, joining Badfinger in 1969. The group had initially formed in 1961 as The Iveys, taking the Badfinger moniker in 1969 from the working title of a song from The Beatles.

The group had in fact signed to The Beatles' Apple Records the year prior, and they would work with The Fab Four’s road manager Mal Evans, who also served as producer alongside Paul McCartney, and Geoff Emerick. George Harrison also provided slide guitar on 1871’s Day After Day.

Badfinger would experience widespread success in the early '70s, with albums such as 1970's Magic Christian Music and 1971's Straight Up hitting #31 and #22 on the local charts, respectively. Singles such as No Matter What, Day After Day, and Baby Blue also became major radio hits for the group.

Badfinger would fold in 1975 following the passing of vocalist and guitarist Pete Ham. They would reconvene in 1978, but never quite achieved the same heights as they did previously before splitting again in 1984.

Various iterations of the group have existed since the early ‘80s, including versions led by drummer Mike Gibbins and later guitarist Bob Jackson, Jackson himself, and Molland, whose version of the band would continue until 2024.

Molland’s passing makes him the final member of the band’s classic lineup to pass away. While Ham would pass in 1975, bassist Tom Evans too would die in 1983, and Gibbins would pass in 2005.