Died On This Date (June 4, 1997) Ronnie Lane / The Small Faces
themusicsover Ronnie Lane
April 1, 1946 – June 4, 1997
Ronnie Lane was born in the east end of London, and from an early age, he wanted to be a musician. Meeting drummer Kenney Jones at 16, Lane formed his first band, the Outkasts with him initially on guitar, but quickly switching to bass. Lane soon met Steve Marriott and together with Jones and Jimmy Winston, they formed the Small Faces in 1965. In 1972, Lane broke from the Small Faces to embark on a solo career. During that time, he hooked up with Pete Townsend to record an album called Rough Mix that was released in 1977. It was during the Rough Mix sessions that Lane discovered he was suffering from Multiple Sclerosis, which barely slowed him down for a bit as he continued to tour and record. In fact he spent most of those days as a gypsy minstrel, traveling the highways of England playing acoustically along the way. In 1983, Lane’s then girlfriend, Boo Oldfield helped arrange an MS benefit concert (A.R.M.S Concert) that featured performances by Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, Jones and Andy Fairweather-Low. Joe Cocker and Paul Rodgers were added to a US tour. Suffering from the effects of MS, Lane moved to the better climate of Austin TX, where he continued to work with the likes of Alejandro Escovedo. Since he wasn’t earning royalties from his days with the Small Faces, friends like Jimmy Page and Rod Stewart generously helped with the medical bills. Kenney Jones and Ian McLagan were able to arrange Small Faces royalty payments to Lane, before he died of pneumonia as a result of the MS on June 4, 1997.
What You Should Own
Stiv Bators burst onto the punk scene as a member of the Dead Boys and later Lords Of The New Church. It was Bators’ sound and image that helped define the punk genre. After the demise of the Dead Boys, Bators found himself in the UK where he formed Lords Of The New Church with ex members of the Damned and Sham 69. The Lords achieved moderate success in Europe and the US due in part to their wild live shows. Bators was reported to have hung himself during a show in a stunt that went terribly wrong and was pronounced dead before being revived several minutes later. By the early ’80s, Bators was landing small parts in such cult classic films as Polyester and Tapeheads. And in 1988, the Lords broke up due to an injury Bators sustained to his back. In the early summer of 1990, an intoxicated Bators wandered into a Paris street and was struck by a taxi. He was taken to a hospital but apparently grew tired of waiting to see the doctor so he left. Bators died in his sleep later that night from what was ruled a concussion.
Vince Welnick first rose to fame as the keyboard player for the cult fave rock band, the Tubes during the ’70s and ’80s. With the Tubes he played on such FM staples as “Don’t Touch Me There,” “White Punks On Dope,” and the more commercially successful, “Talk To Ya Later” and “She’s A Beauty.” In the early ’90s, Welnick successfully auditioned to replace 
