He was British by birth, a Minnesotan by choice and the Land of 10,000 Bands’ connection to the Beatles.
Joey Molland, the last surviving member of the heyday of the hitmaking British band Badfinger, lived in Minnesota for 40 years and died Saturday night at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park.
His death was announced on his Instagram account. No cause of death was given. Molland was 77.
He had been hospitalized since December for complications of diabetes, said his son, Joey Molland III.
“We were listening to his music, all together, holding hands. The last song, ‘The Dreamer,’ and the last lyric in the song ‘And I’ll never grow old,” and he passed right after that,” his son said Sunday.
Minneapolis musician Gregg Inhofer played keyboards with Joey Molland’s Badfinger since 2016. Inhofer felt he was one step away from the Beatles, who signed Badfinger to their Apple Records in 1968.
“Onstage, [Joey] was 14 again and I got to be 13,” Inhofer said Sunday.
“He always treated people kindly. After every gig, he sat at a table and talked to everybody and signed anything they wanted and he sat until the last person left,“ Inhofer added. ”And didn’t charge [a fee]. He was happy to connect with people who just loved his music.”
Molland’s last performances were on the Happy Together Tour in the summer of 2024 with the Turtles, the Association, the Vogues and others. Their concert at the Minnesota State Fair was canceled due to severe weather.
A guitarist, Molland joined Badfinger just as the Liverpool band — the first group signed to the Beatles’ Apple Records — had released the Paul McCartney-penned and -produced “Come and Get It” in 1969. That hit and the ensuing “No Matter What” and “Day After Day” made a splash. But over the years, Badfinger had a streak of bad breaks: an unscrupulous manager underpaid the band; a co-founder died by suicide in 1975; another longtime member hanged himself in ’83; and in the 1980s, two versions of the band existed simultaneously.
Molland made guest appearances on two blockbuster George Harrison albums, “All Things Must Pass” and “The Concert for Bangladesh,” and on John Lennon’s album, “Imagine,” and the single “Jealous Guy.”
Molland participated in seven Badfinger albums and released six under his own name, the most recent being 2020’s “Be True to Yourself.” Guests on the record included Julian Lennon, the Monkees’ Micky Dolenz and ex-Chicago bassist Jason Scheff.
On a Badfinger U.S. tour in 1970, after a gig in Fargo, North Dakota, the lads spent three days in Minneapolis visiting their agents at Variety Artists. Molland met his future wife, Kathie, who was from Hopkins, bonding over a long dinner at the old Nankin restaurant in downtown Minneapolis.
“I wanted to be married and have kids,” Molland told the Star Tribune in 2020. “My brothers all got married before me. My mum and dad were married forever. Kathie and I were married for 37 years.”
Molland has dealt with the death of dear ones at a young age, including his wife in 2009, and earlier the suicides of Badfinger mates Pete Ham and Tommy Evans. But Molland pressed on with his own incarnation of Badfinger.
Joey Molland III, a salesman for a restoration firm, said his father gave him and his brother Shaun, a chef, confidence.
“A lot of adversity he went through with the Badfinger stuff, to keep going and not let it defeat him and depress him — he persevered on,” Joey Molland III said. “His work ethic was so strong. I’ll carry that with me. It’s a story of victory through tough times and coming out with his head up. He was positive, an optimist.”
Inhofer said Molland was a fun guy who liked to go to yard sales. But showing up at those rummage stops could be a challenge.
“He had a car but never learned to drive,” the keyboardist said. The guitarist relied on family, friends or Ubers to get around the Twin Cities.
Molland is survived by his girlfriend Mary Joyce, sons Joey III and Shaun of Fridley, and brother Doug of Hopkins. Services are pending in the Twin Cities and England.
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Source: American Military News
