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Denny Laine (2019)
Photo: Rob Grabowski / dpa
He was the frontman of the British rock band Moody Blues and played alongside ex-Beatle Paul McCartney with the Wings. Now guitarist Denny Laine is dead. The musician died after a long lung illness at the age of 79, the BBC quoted on Tuesday evening from a statement by Laine's wife Elizabeth Hines. "I was by his side, holding his hand while I played his favorite Christmas carol (...) My world will never be the same," she said.
"He fought every day, never complained. All he wanted was to be at home with me and his cat Charley and play guitar," Hines continued.
Born Brian Frederick Hine in Birmingham in 1944, Laine founded the Moody Blues under his stage name in 1964, who immediately shot to the top of the British charts with their song »Go Now«. In the meantime, Moody Blues went on tour with the Beatles.
Laine left the band in 1966 and tried his hand at a solo career before joining the newly formed Wings around McCartney and his wife Linda in 1971.
With the ex-Beatle and a bottle of whisky
During his ten years with the band, he co-wrote the hit »Mull of Kintyre«, among others. » Paul and I sat outside his house in the hills of Kintyre one afternoon with a bottle of whisky. Paul had the chorus ready, and we wrote the rest together," Laine once recalled. He left the group in 1981 after disputes with Paul McCartney over business matters, among other things.
"I was more in the shadows, but that didn't bother me," Laine said in an interview a few months ago. He was just a normal musician who didn't care much about popularity and glamour. "I've always been surprised by all the fame. I never had a real hit. But there are always people coming up to me who have all my solo stuff."
jok/dpa