The Boomtown Rats have announced that the famed guitarist Garry Roberts who was a founding member of the Dublin band, has passed away. He was 72 years old at the time of his death.
Gary Roberts, His Obituary
In the statement on the band’s official social media, the rest members of the group said they made the announcement with “great and heavy grief” and gave their heartfelt sympathy to his close family and friends. The full statement also read as: “It is with very great grief that the members of The Boomtown Rats announce the death this morning of Garry Roberts, their friend, and guitarist.
“The remaining members of the band, Pete, Bob, Simon, Darren, and Al extend their deepest sympathy to his family and friends. “On a clear Spring evening in 1975, in a pub in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, Garry has became THE founding member of what turned out to be a popular rock’n’roll band, made largely by that sound of his, a storm of massive considered noise that punched out from his overtaxed amplifiers; and which gives not just the rest of the group but audiences he played to around the world.
Also Read: Famous Brazilian Singing Star, Gal Costa, dies at 77
For fans he was The icon and rockstar – and he was. For us, he was Gazzer, the guy who summed up the sense of who The Rats are.
“We have known Garry since we were children and so we feel strangely adrift without him tonight. “Safe travels Gaz. “Thanks for everything mate. “Bob Geldof, Pete Briquette, Simon Crowe with Darren Beale and Alan Dunne” Roberts was said to have been instrumental in the band settling on The Boomtown Rats as the name.
He has also reportedly threatened to leave unless they changed their name from The Nightlife Thugs. Their new name was chosen by Geldof after he went to read the phrase in US protest singer Woody Guthrie’s autobiography, Bound for Glory.
