Randy Rand, founding bassist for the ‘80s hair steel group Autograph, has died.
The rocker’s passing was confirmed in a publish to Autograph’s social media pages.
“It’s with nice sorrow and heavy hearts to announce the sudden passing of our cherished buddy and founding member of Autograph, Randy Rand,” the band’s message learn. “Though past devastated, we discover some consolation and solace realizing the final couple of years have been a few of his happiest as an artist and as a performer. Randy was the consummate optimist and was so excited to see the brand new course, creativity and renewed vitality with the band. You possibly can really feel his excitement- because it was fairly palpable along with his enjoying talents, performances and the best way he interacted along with his beloved followers.”
The band’s full assertion could be seen beneath.
Autograph shaped in 1983 and rose out of the famed Sundown Strip music scene. Rand — who joined the group after enjoying within the band Wolfgang and dealing as a session musician for a number of years — was Autograph’s founding bassist alongside singer Steve Plunkett, guitarist Steve Lynch, drummer Keni Richards and keyboardist Steven Isham.
Of their early days, the band scored a spot opening for certainly one of their contemporaries: Van Halen.
“We knew Van Halen, we knew Quiet Riot, we knew all the blokes from the 70s developing,” Rand recalled to Antihero Magazine in 2020. “I used to be associates with Lita Ford on the time. She referred to as me in New York after I was working with Lita and mentioned, ‘Do you wish to go on tour with Van Halen?’ as a result of they have been our associates. I mentioned, ‘Positive.’ We weren’t even a band but.”
The expertise shortly threw Rand and his band in entrance of ravenous followers. “We actually thought we have been going to get our ass kicked as a result of it was like 15,000 individuals in your very first gig ever,” he defined. “We named the band Autograph on the best way as a result of that was the one title that we didn’t hate.”
Issues continued transferring shortly from there. In 1984, the group launched their debut album, Signal In Please. The LP featured Autograph’s breakout hit “Flip Up the Radio,” which reached No. 29 on the Billboard Scorching 100, whereas its accompanying video acquired heavy rotation on MTV.
Signal In Please would ultimately go gold, however follow-up single “Ship Her to Me” failed to copy the success of “Flip Up the Radio.” Autograph launched one other two data — 1985’s That’s the Stuff and 1987’s Loud and Clear — earlier than breaking apart in 1989.
With rock stardom seemingly within the rearview mirror, Rand pursued a profession in leather-based making. For greater than 20 years, the bassist ran a enterprise specializing in hand-crafted leather-based items. Nevertheless, in 2013 Rand obtained the music bug as soon as once more. After reteaming with Lynch for an look on the annual NAMM present, the musicians determined to revive Autograph. The group launched two new albums — Louder (2016) and Get Off Your Ass (2017). Lynch left the band in 2019, however Autograph continued with Rand performing alongside a brand new lineup. The group was reportedly engaged on new materials previous to the bassist’s demise.
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