Posted on 09/13/2015 10:20:10 PM PDT by Drew68
Yup I’m feeling old right now.
RIP.
Yeah about 20 miles north up I-75 from Knoxville.
Never much of an REO fan (I had a scatological alternate name for them), but it’s still sad to see a musician from “my generation” pass away.
Bummer.
I loved this group. I will confess. I have a cd of their greatest hits. And now I feel old, too.
RIP.
We have a place on Norris Lake, on the north-east section
Here he is with the long white hair and well... he was fat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvH5JdSulKg
I knew that he was in rough shape and that the REO split, originally musical, endured because he could not overcome his problems.
All will mention his Hi Infidelity work but the early hard rockin’ stuff is where he made his mark...hugely influential and a hero of mine because he always had a sense of melody.
Damn sad news.
Was mostly the talent behind REO Speedwagon.
R.I.P. Gary.
Enjoy that awesome Rock band in Heaven!
Yep. That was depressing and certainly not how I'd like to remember the guy.
I was always a little bitter towards the band for how he was pretty much kicked out. Always wished they'd bring him back. But when I saw that video, I understood. He was in no shape to resume his role in REO Speedwagon, a band that today still tours regularly. He could barely play.
It should be noted, REO Speedwagon never had another hit song after Gary Richrath was forced out.
When Gary Richrath left the group they were starting into about year 22 as a group. That's a long run for any group and he had been a member since about 1970. The only original member left in the 1967 lineup is Neal Doughty the keyboard player. Cronin and Bruce Hall {Bass} all are probably the next two longest all time as well as still current members but neither of them were original members.
The disagreement that seemed to have lead to the Richrath split was Cronin in the late 1980's was also doing a jazz band. Richrath was hitting 40 he may have been getting tired. I think all the songs up till that point would have been rock enough for him.
It should be noted, REO Speedwagon never had another hit song after Gary Richrath was forced out.
Spot on brother!
“The disagreement that seemed to have lead to the Richrath split was Cronin in the late 1980’s was also doing a jazz band.”
I thought the thing that caused the split was Richrath’s alcoholism causing him to be unreliable and difficult to work with.
Could have been. I’ve looked around on searches and didn’t see anything really definite. It would make sense. A lot of great musicians self destructed on drugs or alcohol. Some made it through some didn’t. Ones like Joe Walsh, Billy Powell, and Gary Rossington were lucky ones. Others like Allen Collins was not so lucky as the results of his addiction eventually cost him his life. Chuck Negron formerly of Three Dog Night was real lucky also.
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