Joey Molland, Last Living Core Member of Badfinger, Dies at 77
- Joey Molland, the Badfinger guitarist who later became the lead singer, has passed away at the age of 77 after battling multiple health issues.
Joey Molland, the Badfinger guitarist who later took on lead singer duties as he led the group into later decades, has died. He was 77.
Molland died on Saturday after a months long battle with multiple health issues, his social media manager announced.
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Badfinger was a Welsh rock band known for hits "No Matter What You Do," "Day After Day," "Come and Get It" and "Baby Blue," the latter also famous for its use in the final moments of Breaking Bad . Molland began as the group's guitarist in the early 1970s, after the band changes its name from The Iveys.
In recent years, Molland led a touring edition of the band despite the fact that the rest of the group's core members — Pete Ham, Mike Gibbins and Tom Evans — were already dead. Though originally only on guitar, Molland became the lead singer for these shows, billed as Joey Molland's Badfinger, and fans celebrated him for his continuing enthusiasm. He was active through last September.
In January, Molland's girlfriend Mary revealed he had felt "vaguely ill" at the end of the touring run and had later been admitted to the ICU, where he discovered he had "acquired a very bad bacterial infection due to his diabetes," resulting in septicemia requiring several surgeries.
Badfinger signed to the Beatles' Apple Records label in 1969, and Paul McCartney wrote the group's "Come and Get It." Molland also contributed work to John Lennon's "Imagine" and George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass."
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