’70s Rock Star Dead at 79: Bandmate Confirms Death of Tetsu Yamauchi

Bassist Tetsu Yamauchi, who played with both Free and the Faces during his lengthy musical career, died Dec. 4, his family and fellow bandmate have confirmed. He was 79.

Yamauchi’s family shared a statement on X (formerly Twitter) revealing that the musician had “passed away peacefully, surrounded by family.” They did not include any information about his cause of death.

“We sincerely thank everyone who enjoyed Tetsu’s music and offered kind words until now,” they continued in the message, translated from Japanese. “Those were fun times. It’s a long time, but a short time.”

Former Free and current Bad Company drummer Simon Kirke confirmed the news on his Facebook page the same day, writing, “I sadly just heard that Tetsu passed away. He was a good friend and a great bass player. My condolences to his family and close friends. May he rest in peace.”

He continued in the comments, “I saw that someone here questioned if this news of Tetsu’s passing, is true. I would not post something if I wasn’t sure what I was posting about. Unfortunately, it is sadly true, our dear Tetsu is no longer on this planet.”

Born in Fukuoka, Japan, on Oct. 21, 1946, Yamauchi first launched his musical career with Japanese rock group Mickey Curtis & The Samurai in the late ’60s before being recruited as the bassist for the album Kossoff Kirke Tetsu Rabbit alongside Free members Kirke, Paul Kossoff, and John “Rabbit” Bundrick.

Yamauchi was officially brought into Free after an attempted 1972 reconciliation between the band’s bassist, Andy Fraser, and singer Paul Rodgers failed, and he would go on to play on what would be the group’s last album, Heartbreaker. Yamauchi also co-wrote the band’s hit song “Wishing Well.”

After Free broke up in 1973, Yamauchi joined the Faces, replacing bassist and founding member Ronnie Lane. He only played with the band for two years, but appears on their live album Coast to Coast: Overture and Beginners, as well as the band’s final single, 1974’s “You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything (Even Take the Dog for a Walk, Mend a Fuse, Fold Away the Ironing Board, Or Any Other Domestic Shortcomings).”

After the Faces broke up, Yamauchi focused on his solo career while working on a session musician before eventually returning to Japan to form Tetsu Yamauchi & the Good Times Roll Band.

Yamauchi continued to collaborate with other musicians, releasing the album Dare Devil in 1992 with Peter Brötzmann, Shoji Hano, and Haruhiko Gotsu and Friends in 1998 with Hiroshi Segawa and Ken Narita.

Yamauchi then stepped into a quieter lifestyle for the last 15 years of his life, but did return to the stage in 2023 and 2024 with Yoshitaka Shimada, who was one of the original members of Tetsu Yamauchi & the Good Times Roll Band.