Ronnie Montrose passes away
 

After a five-year battle with prostate cancer, legendary rock guitarist Ronnie Montrose passed away yesterday. He was 64 years old.

After playing with the likes of Van Morrison, Boz Scaggs and Edgar Winter (with whom he had his first hit with in 1972 with "Frankenstein"), he struck out on his own and formed Montrose with lead singer Sammy Hagar, bassist Bill Church, and drummer Denny Carmassi. The classic Montrose line-up released two albums, Montrose (1973) and Paper Money (1974), as well as reuniting for the song "Leaving The Warmth Of The Womb" for Hagar's 1997 solo album, Marching To Mars.

After the classic line-up split in 1975, Montrose soldiered on, releasing solo albums, as well as continuing Montrose, and forming Gamma in 1979, in which he released four albums with the group.

His last recorded work with released in 2006 with Kevin Crider as a session musician.

sad to hear this

that first album of theirs is great as I own a copy on vinyl

Yeah, I loved listening to Bad Motor Scooter, Rock Candy, Space Station #5, and Make It Last.

I don't know who this is, and therefore this news is irrelevant.

He was a legendary rock guitarist, whose career spanned over 40 years.

A complete unknown has-been like the rest of Van Halen.

is it possible to be an unknown has-been?

He is not an unknown. Here's some of his featured work on guitar...

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<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lUeuAnMNDhA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PAb7-xLmHjE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

not as talented as this. This is better than the original. Ronnie who? whatever.

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Ronnie Montrose was hardly an unknown

Sammy Hagar got his first big break as a member of Montrose

the band Montrose had a slew of hits off that first album

Nobody knows who this is. He's just some dive bar guitarist. A dime a dozen.