Joey Molland, Badfinger Guitarist, Dead at 77

Joey Molland, guitarist and last surviving core member of the rock group Badfinger, has died at the age of 77.

The band’s official Facebook page announced Molland’s death, noting that he died Saturday night surrounded by family. No cause of death was provided, but Molland had faced health issues including pneumonia in recent months.

“Thank you, Joey…for keeping the band’s music alive for so long and for being a friend to us all,” the band added.

Molland joined Badfinger — formerly the Iveys, and one of the first acts signed to the Beatles’ Apple Records — in 1969 following the recording of the band’s debut album, which included the Paul McCartney-penned hit “Come and Get It.”

The guitarist’s first LP with Badfinger, 1970’s No Dice co-produced by Beatles road manager Mal Evans, featured the tracks “No Matter What” and “Without You,” later re-popularized by both Harry Nilsson and Mariah Carey.

The core Badfinger lineup of Molland, singer/guitarist Pete Ham, singer/bassist Tom Evans, and drummer Mike Gibbins recorded five albums together — yielding singles like “Day After Day” and “Baby Blue,” both co-produced by George Harrison — before disbanding in 1974.

When Molland and Evans reunited Badfinger in the late Seventies — sans Gibbins and Ham, who died by suicide in 1975 — the guitarist took on a larger role, taking on half the songwriting and singing duties on 1979’s Airwaves and 1981’s Say No More.

Outside of Badfinger but within the Beatles universe, Molland also made appearances on George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass and The Concert for Bangladesh, as well as played guitar on John Lennon’s 1971 single “Jealous Guy” and “I Don’t Wanna Be a Soldier” on Imagine.

Molland — who also recorded music as a solo artist and a member of the group Natural Gas — launched his own incarnation of Badfinger (dubbed Molland’s Badfinger) in the early Eighties, and remained active with that band until his death.

Following the deaths of Ham, Evans (who also died by suicide in 1983), and Gibbins (who died of a brain aneurysm in 2005), Molland was the last surviving member of Badfinger’s core lineup.