Best Wishes To Mick Ralphs

At the conclusion of the UK dates on their 2016 tour, rock heroes Bad Company have announced that their guitarist Mick Ralphs has suffered a stroke and is recovering in hospital.

Ralphs, 72, had not taken part in the band’s summer co-headlining One Hell Of A Night tour of the US with Joe Walsh, but he completed the UK dates on the eight-city Swan Song itinerary. The band line-up for those shows, acclaimed by fans and media alike, featured fellow original members Paul Rodgers on vocals and Simon Kirke on drums, with Ralphs joined on guitar by Howard Leese and with Todd Ronning on bass. The tour concluded on 29 October at London’s The 02.

A statement from Bad Company said: “The family and representatives of the band’s co-founder, guitarist and songwriter Mick Ralphs, are sad to announce that Mick has suffered a stroke. Mick is receiving excellent medical care and is recovering in hospital, although all his public engagements are necessarily on hold, pending his improvement. Everyone is wishing Mick a speedy recovery, and further news will be announced at the appropriate time.”

Bad Company in 1975

Ralphs, a key figure in Mott The Hoople’s rise to prominence, left Mott in 1973 to become a co-founder of Bad Company with ex-Free members Rodgers and Kirke, and former King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell, who died in 2006. In more recent years, Mick has also fronted the Mick Ralphs Blues Band.