The Rock genre has lost another legend. Ronnie Montrose, guitarist extraordinaire, died on March 3rd, 2012 at the age of 64. The cause was prostate cancer which he had battled for several years.
Montrose was born on November 29, 1947 and grew up in San Fransisco, California before running away to Colorado at age 16. In 1969, he started a band called Sawbuck with bassist Bill Church. During the recording of what was to be the first Sawbuck album, producer David Rubinson arranged for Ronnie to audition for the legendary Van Morrison. Ronnie then played on Morrison's album "Tupelo Honey."
Following this, Ronnie would briefly play with Boz Scaggs before joining the Edgar Winter Group in 1972. He featured on the EWG album "They Only Come Out At Night," which featured the hits "Frankenstein" and "Free Ride." Ronnie would then leave EWG to form his own band, the appropriately-monikered Montrose, in 1973. The classic Montrose line-up featured the aforementioned Bill Church on bass, Denny Carmassi on drums, and the then-unknown Sammy Hagar on vocals. The first Montrose album featured such classics as "Rock Candy," "Bad Motor Scooter," and "Space Station #5." A second album, 1974s "Paper Money," would follow before Hagar would leave the band in pursuit of a solo career. Ronnie would record under the Montrose and Ronnie Montrose banners until also forming the band Gamma in 1979, which would record three albums throughout the 80s and 90s, and a fourth in 2005.
The original Montrose line-up (Ronnie, Church and Carmassi) would reunite to appear on Sammy Hagar's solo album "Marching To Mars," on the song entitled "Leaving The Warmth Of The Womb." They also played as special guests at several Sammy Hagar concerts in 2004 and 2005. Ronnie also performed regularly from 2002 to the present under the Montrose banner with rotating bassists and drummers, and with Keith St. John on lead vocals. Also, over the years, he did session work with the likes of Herbie Hancock, Gary Wright, and the Neville Brothers, among others.
While on tour in late 2009, he revealed that he had been fighting prostate cancer, but that he had, apparently, beaten it. It seems now that that was wishful thinking.
Ronnie Montrose was one of those musicians who was well-known to the Rock community, but not as well known among the general public. I've always thought that was a shame, as this master of the Gibson Les Paul was every bit as talented as, if not more talented than, his more famous contemporaries. He wasn't a particularly flashy player, but he was always solid- delivering exactly what each song needed. Rock-n-Roll is going to be much worse off without him.
R.I.P. Ronnie Montrose. Rock on in the Great Beyond.
(Biographical information from Wikipedia)
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