Former Fleetwood Mac Guitarist Bob Welch Dead (Suicide)

Ultimate Classic Rock ^ | 6/7/2012

[My Favorite Headache]

Early Fleetwood Mac guitarist Bob Welch was found dead Thursday afternoon (June 7) from what police are describing as a self-inflicted gun shot wound. According to the Associated Press, the 65-year-old Welch shot himself in the chest inside his Nashville-area home.

The rocker was a part of the group from 1971 to 1974, before the band really took off with the ‘Fleetwood Mac’ and ‘Rumours’ albums. He was a part of ‘Future Games (1971), ‘Bare Trees (1972)’ and ‘Mystery to Me (1973).’ Those weren’t immediate commercial successes, but they went on to achieve Gold or Platinum certification in the U.S. After recording ‘Heroes Are Hard to Find’ he was replaced by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.

After leaving Fleetwood Mac he formed a rock band called Paris before beginning a solo career. His 1977 album ‘French Kiss’ was his most successful project, featuring the song ‘Sentimental Lady,’ which was originally recorded as a Fleetwood Mac song in 1972. He continued to write and record music of different styles until his death.

Controversy arose when Welch was not included among the members of Fleetwood Mac inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. He told the Cleveland Plain Dealer, “It was an important period in the history of the band. Mick Fleetwood dedicated a whole chapter of his biography to my era of the band and credited me with ‘saving Fleetwood Mac.’ Now they want to write me out of the history of the group. It hurts.”

The AP reports that Bob Welch was found dead by his wife around 12:15PM. He had been suffering from health issues and left a suicide note.

[BeAllYouCanBe]

"He had been suffering from health issues and left a suicide note."

Many meds bring on depression and makes sense that he would do this after a successful life.

[oneolcop]

Fleetwood Mac...thought it was a fancy cheeseburger...must be older than I thought...back to sleep...

[dirtboy]

People better step up with the hall of fame..a lot of rockers are dropping like crazy that should have been inducted years if not decades ago. A total disgrace that Welch did not get in. RIP.

Beastie Boys are in. Bob Welch and Rush are not. 'nuff said about what a joke the RR Hall of Fame has made itself.

[VeniVidiVici]

Concussions caused by too many solos.

[Noumenon]

“Hypnotized” was his best, IMO.

Roger that. One of my all time favorites. Yeah, early Fleetwood Mac still wears well today. The Nicks/Buckingham stuff, not so much.

[chickenlips]

I was listening to some old Fleetwood Mac the other day and wondered what happened to Bob Welch.

They had some great songs back in the Bob Welch days. “Bare Tress”, Mystery to Me”, “Penguin” were all great albums. I personally thought Fleetwood Mac went down hill some without Welch. I personally liked Christine McVie more that Stevie Nicks, too. My favorite song is “She’s Changing Me”.

[skimask]

Mick Fleetwood, Jeremy Spencer, Danny Kirwan, and John McVie. Kiln House was the album. That is who Fleetwood Mac were.

[GSWarrior]

Jann Wenner (Obama's boy) Rolling Stone Editor, US Magazine Owner, and one of the head founders and CEO of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame pushed this man into a deep depression as it was his decision not to include him in the rock and roll hall of fame.

You are saying that Wenner is responsible for Welch's suicide? Good luck with that one.

[mylife]

I thought I was the only one that owned the Paris LP’s

[STD]

I've been a huge fan of Bob's and followed FM a longtime before their AM radio success. Saw him playing with the band twice Mic Fleeturd was soo wasted that Welch had to carry him. I wish I could have sent him an e-mail to tell him how much his music soothed me when I had my trials!

Who else has Jan slandered? Can you tell me please? I'll be happy to tell them how valuable they were to us. Thanks and FReegards

[My Favorite Headache]

Welch’s death is a reminder to how personal and fragile some of the musicians of our lifetime view their career. Welch never got over being dismissed from the Hall and he never held ill will toward Mac’s success.

Just a quick reminder...as of 2012...artists and bands currently NOT in the rock and roll hall of fame..keep in mind this is a list of 10% of artists who are eligible as of 2012...AND this quote from Wenner who stated why they had to start inducting rap and hip hop acts quote! “We are starting to run out of rock and roll acts so we have to open new doors”. UNREAL!

Rush
KISS
Deep Purple
Chicago
Boston
Foreigner
Styx
Bad Company
Bryan Adams
Def Leppard
Bon Jovi
Pantera
Anthrax
Slayer
Rick Springfield
Pat Benatar
ELO
Asia
Cheap Trick
The Cars
Duran Duran
Faith No More
Jethro Tull
The Smiths
The Cure
The Monkees
Yes
King Crimson
Steppenwolf
Huey Lewis and The News
Iron Butterfly
Judas Priest
Journey
Iron Maiden
Blue Oyster Cult
The Moody Blues
UFO
Three Dog Night
Sammy Hagar
Queensryche
Megadeth
Badfinger
Vanilla Fudge
Roy Buchannan
Otis Rush
John Coltrane
Herbie Hancock
Ella Fitzgerald
Chubby Checker
Cliff Richard
Bobby Rydell
Arron Neville
Ben E. King
Bobby Vinton
Dick Dale
Lou Rawls
Glenn Campbell
Phil Collins
The Doobie Brothers
Love
MC5
Jim Croce
Status Quo
T.Rex
Blood, Sweat, and Tears
Warren Zevon
Supertramp
Humble Pie
James Gang
The Fixx
ABC
Grand Funk Railroad
J. Geils Band
Joe Walsh
Uriah Heep
Jimmy Buffett
Argent
Roger Waters
Little Feat
Kraftwerk
Poco
Meat Loaf
REO Speedwagon
Thin Lizzy
Steve Winwood
John Prine
Gerry Rafferty
Andrew Gold
America
Steve Miler Band
Carly Simon
Budgie
April Wine
10cc
Nazareth
Lou Reed
Hall and Oates
Roxy Music
Bryan Ferry
Stevie Nicks
Peter Frampton
Dream Theater
Joe Satriani
Steve Vai
Kenny Loggins
Kim Carnes
The Raspberries
Tina Turner
New York Dolls
Pete Townshend
John Fogerty
Leo Sayer
Average White Band
E-Street Band
Gary Moore
Montrose
Pointer Sisters
Donna Summer
Kansas
Robert Palmer
Gap Band
Kool and the Gang
Commodores
Jefferson Starship
Men At Work
Alan Parsons Project
Ted Nugent
Rainbow
Ronnie James Dio
The Tubes
Billy Ocean
Air Supply
Bonnie Tyler
Heart
.38 Special
Amy Grant
The Babys
George Thorogood
Iggy Pop
Motorhead
XTC
Quiet Riot
Poison
Winger
Peter Gabriel
Eddie Money
Teddy Pendergrass
Barry White
The Jam
Chic
Nine Inch Nails
Devo
Dire Straits
Joy Division
Joe Jackson
New Order
Rick James
Saga
Toto
X
Whitesnake
Jimmy Page
David Gilmour
Molly Hatchet
Public Image Limited
Human League
Squeeze
The Misfits
Eric Johnson
Level 42
Adam Ant
B-52’s
Simple Minds
Twisted Sister
Fabulous Thunderbirds
Weird Al Yankovic
INXS
UB40
GO-GO’S
Loverboy
Ozzy Osbourne
Tears For Fears
Stray Cats
Lionel Richie
Motley Crue
Missing Persons
Husker Du
Lita Ford
The Runaways
Extreme
Ministry
Janet Jackson
Sting
Robert Plant
Night Ranger
Wham!
George Michael
John Waite
Glen Frey
10,000 Maniacs
2 Live Crew
A-Ha
Flaming Lips
Jesus and Mary Chain
Pet Shop Boys
Spinal Tap
Whitney Houston
Steve Perry
Soul Asylum
Sade
White Lion
Y&T
Yngwie Malmsteen
Fastway
Howard Jones
k.d. Lang
New Edition
Skid Row
Steve Morse
Fates Warning
Dennis DeYoung
Crowded House
Soundgarden
Alice In Chains
Ratt
Bruce Hornsby and the Range
Tesla
David Lee Roth
Fishbone
Primus
The Melvins
Richard Marx
Goo Goo Dolls

The list just goes on and on and on and on...would be here all night. Yet the hall of fame is “running out of rock and roll acts”....right.

[My Favorite Headache]

I don’t think he cared about the “award” he cared that he was purposely being written out of history...THAT is what pissed him off and rightly so.

[My Favorite Headache]

Not directly...however...the depression it sent Welch into to be literally written out of history of a band he was a big part of when it was in its formative years...yeah..that is on Wenner’s hands. The 2 decades of depression...I’d say so.

[wardaddy]

damn shame indeed MFH

i saw his era Mac in the early 70s...how he could handle Danny Kirwan is enough cause to get inducted by itself

i live here around so many of that generation rockers and of course kuntry music folks

i ate lunch at Noshville Green Hills yesterday 20 feet from Steve Winwood and his kids...nearly grown now

so accessible and carrying on with the staff there...i left him alone but did want to tell him how much his music framed my early years in the late 60s and early 70s

i go to church with Jason Aldean out where I live now...

talked to Chris Hillman at a wine store a few months ago

saw JD Souther at dinner here in Franklin down the bar from me at Red Pony..last month

Sarah Evans at same joint recently...gorgeous...in a thin phase

Gretchen Wilson and Charlie Daniels and Clint Black wash at my car washes that I see repeatedly

I watched Kid Rock’s new Ferrari 599 unloaded in front of his West End digs a few weeks ago

and so it goes here...it’s pretty constant

my point being Nashville and environs are very cool for music celebs regardless the genre or generation and except for tourists on Lower Broad folks leave them alone though it took restraint to spare Mr Fantasy I admit

so it’s sad that for some it’s not so good and in the end they take their lives....Bob Welch..who was so great in the 70s...Stuart Adamson the lead singer for Big Country...another causualty....Townes Van Zandt...suicide by drink...

the pain they must have to have experienced the peaks an unequipped to handle the lows...so sad

btw Wenner is a pederast cakeboy...what can we expect...That Metal Show headbangers are right...TRRHOF sux

[Lancey Howard]

It’s a shame that the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” is taken seriously by so many people. Jann Wenner is a worthless scumbag.

Anyway, I was a huge Fleetwood Mac fan up UNTIL the pop era of Buckingham/Nicks, and finally got to see the guy who founded the band, Peter Green, about 12 years ago. Those first few albums, especially ‘English Rose’ and ‘Then Play On’, are still among my most cherished albums. ‘Kiln House’ (the first record after Peter Green left the band) was decent enough, but then Jeremy Spencer left and after that the band just wasn’t the same. The Bob Welch era, peaking with ‘Mystery to Me’, produced some good material but was not all that memorable, IMO.

[Revolting cat!]

When you have places like the Artichoke Hall of Fame, the very idea of “Halls of Fame” is a disgrace. Just ask Johnny Rotten about the R’n’R HoF!

There is no music made in that hall, just as there is no baseball played in the baseball’s hall, or artichokes to buy in that hall. Get over it!

[GSWarrior]

I guess I don’t know the whole story. My memory is of Welch joining the band during it’s transition from a blues-based outfit to a more pop oriented sound. Bare Trees is a favorite album of mine from the 70s.

[nodumbblonde]

Bookmarking for that unbelievable list!

Too many to even get started but Ella Fitzgerald and Chubby Checker? Seriously?!?!?!

[GSWarrior]

You left off Pere Ubu, Wire and Roxy Music.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

I enjoyed what I heard of his solo work. But,,, I have a question. Was he in the Fleetwood Mac band that opened for Zappa on tour? If so, that band was awful. Everyone listened to two or three songs, and then headed out to the lobby and hallways. But,,, again, I enjoyed his solo work, and I hope he wasn’t in that Fleetwood band.