Mick Ralphs – the riff-slinging, genre-straddling guitar wizard who co-founded both Mott the Hoople and Bad Company – has died aged 81.
A statement from his camp confirmed the news on Monday, adding that Ralphs had been bedridden since suffering a stroke in 2016, just days after what would be his final gig at London’s O2 Arena with Bad Company.
Ralphs’ death comes just months before he was due to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Bad Company. And while the honour is well overdue, it’s bittersweet knowing he won’t be around to see it.
For anyone who grew up on classic rock radio or combed through crate-dug vinyl sleeves, Ralphs’ name is etched into the fabric of the genre. He was the guy behind ‘Can’t Get Enough’, co-writer of ‘Feel Like Makin’ Love’, and the brains behind ‘Ready for Love’ – first with Mott the Hoople, then reworked with a whole new kind of muscle for Bad Company.
Paul Rodgers, Ralphs’ long-time bandmate, called him “an amazing and versatile guitarist who had the greatest sense of humour,” and that about sums it up. His playing had a swing and snarl that didn’t try to outshine the song – it just made it. And unlike many of his peers, he didn’t need to overplay to prove a point.
Born in Herefordshire in 1944, Ralphs came up through the British blues boom before founding Mott the Hoople in the late ’60s – the band that would find fame (and eyeliner) with the David Bowie-penned ‘All the Young Dudes’. Ralphs left in ’73, just as things were blowing up, to co-found Bad Company with Rodgers, Free’s Simon Kirke and King Crimson’s Boz Burrell. The chemistry was instant.
Ralphs had a quiet swagger and an ear for timeless songwriting. He wasn’t flashy. He was better than that.
Mick Ralphs made songs that still sound great on pub jukeboxes and festival fields. That’s the legacy. And what a thing to leave behind.
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