Moby Grape co-founder and guitarist Jerry Miller has died aged 81
Moby Grape co-founder and guitarist Jerry Miller has died at age 81.
Yesterday (July 21), a member of the Fb fan group for Moby Grape shared the information in a public submit.
“Sadly, I’ve to narrate that Jerry Miller handed away final night time,” wrote the member. They added that Miller’s companion Jo Johnson and his household are “asking for everybody to please give them some privateness and respect” and that she requested for folks to “stop cellphone calls in the intervening time”. No different info has been given about Miller’s passing.
Members of the group then shared textual content messages from Jo, who informed the group’s members to “flood the Ether with Jerry Miller’s music” and to “play all of it day lengthy for me and him”.
Miller fashioned the San Francisco-based Moby Grape in 1966 alongside guitarists Peter Lewis and Skip Spence, the latter of whom has since impressed a cult following along with his solely solo album, 1969’s ‘Oar’, the identical yr he left Moby Grape. Per Deadline, Eric Clapton as soon as referred to as Miller the “greatest guitar participant on the earth” throughout his first US tour in 1967 with Cream.
The psychedelic rock band’s 1967 self-titled debut was a modest success upon launch – over time, its stature grew with covers of its songs recorded by Robert Plant, Cat Energy, R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, with Rolling Stone awarding it one in all 500 best albums of all time at Quantity 121 in 2003.
The Miller-written Moby Grape songs ‘8:05’ and ‘Bare, If I Need To’ have been lined by Plant in 1993 and launched as B-sides. The latter was additionally lined by Energy on her 2000 album ‘The Covers Report’.
The band’s first tenure lasted briefly from 1966 to 1969. Throughout this era, they launched three extra albums: 1968’s double album ‘Wow/Grape Jam’, and 1969’s ‘Moby Grape ‘69’ and ‘Actually High-quality Citizen’, the latter two exhibiting a shift in the direction of a rustic rock-oriented sound.
Over the subsequent few many years, the band would disband and reunite on a number of events from the Nineteen Seventies to the Nineteen Nineties, with its members Spence and Bob Moseley battling psychological sickness and drug habit. Their ultimate reunion occurred in 2007 with a one-off live performance that includes Miller, Moseley, and Lewis, together with drummer Don Stevenson.
The band’s tumultuous profession didn’t faze Miller. “The best way I see it, I’m the luckiest man on the earth,” Miller informed The Spectator in 2023. “I’ve nonetheless bought my well being and my music, and I nonetheless get to do what I most love for a dwelling. Perhaps the Grape have been screwed, however so what? If you happen to haven’t been ripped off, you haven’t been within the music enterprise.”
Moby Grape’s final album was 1989’s ‘Legendary Grape’, which was initially issued on cassette tape in restricted portions earlier than being remastered and re-released on compact disc in 2003.
Miller launched 4 solo albums independently: 1993’s ‘Now I See’, 1995’s ‘Life Is Like That’, 1998’s ‘Stay at Cole’s’ and 2000’s ‘Runnin’ the Prepare’, all of that are presently unavailable on streaming platforms.
In a 2021 interview with The Seattle Times, Miller revealed that he and the band’s surviving members have been open to reuniting as soon as extra. “We typically speak about getting collectively once more, however the entire COVID enterprise hasn’t helped,” he mentioned.
Musician Invoice Cutler shared a tribute to Miller on Facebook. “Listening to Moby Grape’s wonderful debut album in 1967 was the explanation I made a decision to maneuver to San Francisco as a younger songwriter,” he wrote. “We spent some great occasions collectively when he lived in Santa Cruz. I’ll miss him for the remainder of my days. He was an enormous and this can be a big loss for music.”