Another Classic Rock Legend Has Died: Joey Molland of Badfinger Was 77

Joey Molland, guitarist and last surviving member of the Welsh rock band Badfinger’s classic lineup, has died. Molland passed away on Saturday, March 1 surrounded by his longtime girlfriend Mary, his two sons, and other family members.

A cause of death was not disclosed, but the rocker had faced numerous health issues, including pneumonia, in recent months, according to statements shared on the band’s official Facebook page and on Molland’s Instagram account. He was 77.

“Well, the day we never wanted to see has arrived. Joey (Joseph Charles) Molland passed away last night, surrounded by Mary, his two sons, and other family members at 11:39pm CST,” the band’s statement said. “Long Live Badfinger. Thank you, Joey…for keeping the band’s music alive for so long and for being a friend to us all.”

One of the first acts signed to the Beatles’ Apple Records, Badfinger formed in Swansea in 1961. Molland joined the group, formerly the Iveys, nearly a decade later in 1970 after the release of their first to albums, Maybe Tomorrow (1969) and Magic Christian Music (1970). Together with Badfinger’s classic lineup of singer/guitarist Pete Ham, singer/bassist Tom Evans, and drummer Mike Gibbins, Molland recorded five albums with band, including 1970’s No Dice, which featured two of Badfinger’s best-known tracks, “No Matter What” and “Without You.” The latter song was later covered by Harry Nilsson and Mariah Carey. The band also scored hits with tracks like “Day After Day,” “Come and Get It” and “Baby Blue,” which was featured in the closing scene of Breaking Bad’s series finale.

“There are times when it all feels like a dream,” Molland said in an interview with Guitar World in 2020, per Variety. “Badfinger gave me the opportunity to do everything a musician could want. I got to make records. I heard my music on the radio, and I toured all over. I couldn’t believe the luck we were having. For a time, everything was great.”

In the later half of the ‘70s, Badfinger found themselves in a financial hardship as album sales lagged and amid embezzlement committed by their manager, Stan Polley, per Entertainment Weekly. In 1975, Ham died by suicide. Eight years later, Evans died by suicide as well. In 2005, Gibbins died from a brain aneurysm.

Outside of his work with Badfinger, Molland recorded several solo albums, recorded as a member of the group Natural Gas, and contributed to projects including George Harrison’s The Concert for Bangladesh and All Things Must Pass, and John Lennon’s Imagine. In the early ‘80s, he formed his own version of Badfinger, known as Joey Molland’s Badfinger, and continued to tour with the act until the summer of 2024.

In January, Molland’s girlfriend Mary shared on a GoFundMe page that the guitarist had felt “vaguely ill” throughout the final run of the tour, and “acquired a very bad bacterial infection due to his diabetes” in December. Mary had continued asking for prayers and “extra-healing good vibes” up until the end of January.