{"id":974051,"date":"2019-12-14T08:57:52","date_gmt":"2019-12-14T15:57:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=927169"},"modified":"2019-12-14T08:57:52","modified_gmt":"2019-12-14T15:57:52","slug":"flamin-groovies-singer-roy-loney-dead-at-73","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/music-news\/flamin-groovies-singer-roy-loney-dead-at-73\/","title":{"rendered":"Flamin\u2019 Groovies Singer Roy Loney Dead at 73"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Roy Loney, the original lead singer for the influential garage rock group Flamin\u2019 Groovies, has died at the age of 73.<\/p>\n

The band confirmed Loney\u2019s death on their Facebook page<\/a>. \u201cWe are all deeply saddened and stunned to learn that our dearest friend and bandmate, Roy Loney, passed away this morning,\u201d the band wrote. The musician died of severe organ failure at San Francisco\u2019s California Pacific Medical Center, his girlfriend Vivian Altmann told the San Francisco Chronicle<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

News of Loney\u2019s death was initially revealed by punk rock photographer Roberta Bayley, who revealed the musician had surgery earlier this week and died on Friday. \u201cVery sad news. Roy Loney, the original singer of the legendary Flamin\u2019 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,\u201d she wrote on Facebook.<\/p>\n

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In the early 1960s, Loney began playing guitar and singing with Tim Lynch in the San Francisco band the Kingsmen, which would later evolve into the Chosen Few. By 1965, the Chosen Few became the Flamin\u2019 Groovies. While the band\u2019s albums made little chart impact, they had a subsequent influence on power-pop and punk acts that followed. After self-releasing their Sneakers<\/em> EP in 1968, the band landed a record deal with Epic. Just one year later they delivered their debut studio album Supersnazz. <\/em>The band would become known for its tracks \u201cLove Have Mercy,\u201d alongside twists on classics like Bobby Toup\u2019s \u201cThe Girl Can\u2019t Help It\u201d and John Vincent and Huey \u201cPiano\u201d Smith\u2019s \u201cRockin\u2019 Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie \u2018Flu.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group would next sign to Kama Sutra Records where they released Flamingo<\/em> and Teenage Head <\/em>in 1970 and 1971, respectively; the former album features the Loney co-written track \u201cHeadin\u2019 for the Texas Border,\u201d later covered by the Raconteurs<\/a>. But by 1971, tensions between Loney and guitarist Cyril Jordan would lead to the singer\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n