Roy Loney, the founding lead singer of the influential San Francisco power pop band the Flamin’ Groovies, has died at age 73. The official Facebook page for the group featured a message on Friday (Dec. 13) dedicated to Loney, with the band writing, “we are all deeply saddened and stunned to learn that our dearest friend and bandmate, Roy Loney, passed away this morning.” A spokesperson for the band confirmed to Billboard that Loney died on Friday morning.
Famed punk photographer Roberta Bayley confirmed the news on Friday as well, writing, “Very sad news. Roy Loney, the original singer of the legendary Flamin’ Groovies has died. Only minutes ago. Roy was a great talent, as a songwriter and performer, and a great friend. He was hospitalized last week, and I spoke to him Wednesday. He was in good spirits. He had a surgery this morning and never came out of it. Sorry, I have no other details. Roy will surely be missed by all who had the pleasure of knowing him.”
The charismatic frontman whose high-energy stage moves and growly, blues-inflected vocals blew a garage rock-sized hole in the psychedelic, hippie vibe of the Bay Area rock scene in the late 1960s and early 1970s died due to “severe organ failure” at CPMC Davies Campus in San Francisco according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The precursor to the Groovies formed in 1965 when teenage guitarist Cyril Jordan met bassist George Alexander and singer Loney, with whom he built several bands before the Groovies self-released their debut EP, Sneakers, in 1967.
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Unlike the prevailing flower power sound of the time, the Groovies were full-steam-ahead ’50s-inspired rockers, injecting blues, rockabilly and R&B swing into a power pop froth on songs such as “Love Have Mercy,” “The First One’s Free” and “Bam Balam” — all written or co-written by Loney — on their full-length 1969 Epic Records debut. The jumped to Kama Sutra Records for their second effort, 1970’s even more raw Flamingo, which solidified their gritty sound. In 1971, the band released Teenage Head, a masterpiece of loose, concise bluesy garage rock.
But by the next year Loney quit the group as a precursor to a long solo career with a number of different bands; the Groovies, however, would record their signature song, “Shake Some Action,” with new singer Chris Wilson joining the band for the 1976 release of the Shake Some Action album.
Loney wouldn’t re-emerge as a solo act until 1979, when he released the full-length Out After Dark, which featured two of his former Groovies bandmates, drummer Danny Mihm and guitarist James Ferrell. The rootsy, rockabilly-influenced album found Loney in his familiar pumped-up mood on originals such as “Scum City” and “Used Hoodoo,” and was followed by a number of albums on small indie labels through 1984, at which point the singer slipped off the music map again for a few years.
Working for record labels and at Bay Area record stores in the interim, Loney would return to the music business in the early 1990s with a series of backing bands including the Phantom Movers and the Long Shots, as well as reuniting with the Groovies for occasional shows up until May of this year.
A number of Loney’s contemporaries and musical fans reacted to the news of his passing. Check out their tributes and some Groovies music below.
RIP Roy Loney. Legendary Garage Rocker and original lead singer with the Flamin’ Groovies. He will live forever in the Underground Garage.
— Stevie Van Zandt (@StevieVanZandt) December 13, 2019
Roy Loney looking like a French movie star pic.twitter.com/C5qgumAcgh
— Chuck Prophet (@ChuckProphet) December 14, 2019
Roy Loney & YLT, Maxwell’s 12/10/2007 (photo @choccosalo) pic.twitter.com/LZRWISI6y9
— Yo La Tengo (@TheRealYLT) December 15, 2019