Denny Laine, a early member of The Moody Blues and the longest serving member of Wings alongside Paul and Linda McCartney has died at the age of 79.
Laine had been ill for most of this year and his wife Elizabeth Hines posted on Instagram that the cause was Interstitial Lung Disease. A tribute concert to help pay for Laine’s medical bills was held at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, California on November 27th.
Denny Laine was born in Tyseley, England on October 29th, 1944. He started his music career fronting Denny Laine and the Diplomats, which also included Bev Bevan, future drummer of Electric Light Orchestra.
He left the group in 1964 and was approached by Ray Thomas and Mike Pinder to form a new band, the M&B 5, which eventually was changed to the Moody Blues. Laine sang lead on the group's first big hit, "Go Now," but quit in 1966.
After a series of relatively unsuccessful post-Moody Blues bands, Paul McCartney approached him in 1971 to join his post-Beatles band Wings. Laine remained with Paul and Linda McCartney in the band for the next decade. He wrote several songs with Paul and had some of his own songs included on various Wings albums. During his time with band Laine played on six number-one singles and four number-one albums.
After Wings split in 1981, Laine released a series of solo albums and played on two McCartney solo albums, Tug of War and Pipes of Peace.
In 2018 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of Fame as a member of The Moody Blues.
His passing comes on the 50th anniversary of the U.S. release of what was by far McCartney and Wings's most successful album, Band on the Run, which has sold over seven-million copies to date.
Source: CNN and Premiere