Rockers To Gather For Ronnie Montrose Memorial

A memorial concert will take place in California on 23 January for the US rock guitarist Ronnie Montrose, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 2012 after suffering from prostate cancer.

Among those scheduled to take part in Ronnie Montrose Remembered are Brad Whitford of Aerosmith, Gilby Clarke, formerly of Guns N’ Roses, Steve Stevens from Billy Idol’s band, venerable rock drummer Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge et al), Brad Gillis of Night Ranger, Tracii Guns of L.A. Guns and Keith St. John from the later line-up of Ronnie’s hit band of the 1970s, Montrose.

The tribute will be at the Observatory in Santa Ana, California as part of the 2016 NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) Convention. Among the other musicians who have pledged their participation are Marc Bonilla of the Keith Emerson Band, Doug Aldrich of Whitesnake, Derek St. Holmes from Ted Nugent’s band, David Ellefson of Megadeth, Jimmy DeGrasso of Black Star Riders and Jeff Scott Soto from Yngwie Malmsteen’s group.

At the show, Guitar Player magazine will present the second annual Rock The Nation award, which it created in Montrose’s name, to this year’s chosen young guitar prodigy, reflecting Ronnie’s support for new rock talent. His widow will be in attendance.

The self-titled 1974 album by Montrose, the band, went gold in the US in 1977 and platinum in 1986, and they had several other chart albums. Montrose himself enhanced his reputation as one of American rock’s most notable guitarists by playing on the Edgar Winter Group’s classic hits ‘Frankenstein’ and ‘Free Ride,’ Van Morrison’s ‘Wild Night,’ and working with a wide variety of artists from Herbie Hancock to Sammy Hagar. He also played with the band Gamma and released nine solo albums between 1978 and 1999.

More information about the tribute concert is available here.

Format: UK English