Joey Molland, the guitarist and last surviving member of the rock band Badfinger, has died. He was 77.
Molland passed away on Saturday (March 1) while surrounded by his longtime partner, Mary, his two sons and other family members, according to a post on Badfinger’s Facebook page. While a cause of death was not specified, Molland had faced ongoing health challenges in recent years, including a recent battle with pneumonia.
“Thank you, Joey…for keeping the band’s music alive for so long and for being a friend to us all,” the Facebook post read.
Badfinger, originally known as the Iveys, was one of the first bands signed by The Beatles‘ Apple Records. Molland joined the group in 1969, after the recording of their debut album, Maybe Tomorrow, which featured the Paul McCartney-written hit “Come and Get It.” The song reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1970.
Molland’s first album with Badfinger was No Dice (1970), co-produced by Beatles road manager Mal Evans. The set featured two of the band’s most iconic tracks: “No Matter What” and “Without You.” The latter became a hit after being covered by Harry Nilsson and Mariah Carey.
Badfinger’s main lineup of Molland (guitarist), Pete Ham (singer/guitarist), Tom Evans (bassist) and Mike Gibbins (drummer) recorded five albums together through 1974, producing hit singles like “Day After Day” and “Baby Blue,” both co-produced by George Harrison. “Baby Blue” was notably featured in the closing scene of the final episode of Breaking Bad in 2013.
After the death of Ham, who died by suicide in 1975, Molland and Evans (minus Gibbins) reunited to revive Badfinger, with the guitarist taking on a larger role in songwriting and vocals for the albums Airwaves (1979) and Say No More (1981).
Outside of his work with Badfinger, Molland contributed to Harrison’s All Things Must Pass and The Concert for Bangladesh albums, and played guitar on John Lennon’s 1971 classic “Jealous Guy” and Imagine‘s “I Don’t Wanna Be a Soldier.”
Throughout his career, Molland recorded music both as a solo artist and as a member of the band Natural Gas. In the early 1980s, he formed his own version of Badfinger, known as Joey Molland’s Badfinger, and continued to tour with the act until the summer of 2024.
Molland was the last surviving member of Badfinger’s core lineup, following the deaths of Ham, Evans (who also died by suicide in 1983) and Gibbins, who passed away from natural causes in 2005.