Boomtown Rats guitarist Garry Roberts has sadly died aged 72.
The news was confirmed by the Dublin band in a statement shared on their social media on Wednesday.
They wrote: “It is with very great grief that the members of The Boomtown Rats announce the death this morning of Garry Roberts, our friend and guitarist.”
R.I.P. GARRY ROBERTS, THE LEGEND, FOUNDING MEMBER AND GUITARIST OF THE BOOMTOWN RATS. A MAN WHO WILL BE MISSED, A FRIEND WHO WILL BE REMEMBERED, A SOUND THAT WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN pic.twitter.com/mxmITnt0Ed
— The Boomtown Rats Official (@BoomtownThe) November 9, 2022
“The remaining members of the band, Pete, Bob, Simon, Darren and Al extend their deepest sympathy to his family and friends.”
“On a clear Spring evening in 1975, in a pub in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, Garry became THE founding member of what turned out to be a great rock’n’roll band, driven largely by that sound of his, a storm of massive considered noise that punched out from his overtaxed amplifiers; and which animated not just the rest of the group but audiences he played to around the world.”
“For fans he was The Legend – and he was. For us he was Gazzer, the guy who summed up the sense of who The Rats are.”
Pictures Brian McEvoy
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They continued: “We have known Garry since we were children and so we feel strangely adrift without him tonight.”
“Safe travels Gaz. Thanks for everything mate. Bob Geldof, Pete Briquette, Simon Crowe with Darren Beale and Alan Dunne.”
