Hard Week to be a Rock Icon. RIP Ronnie Montrose

by **Hollywood** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 6:44 pm

Sadly, Ronnie Montrose has passed away after a long battle with cancer.

http://www.ronniemontrose.com/

by **slucero** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 10:24 pm

wow.... did not see this coming... he must have had a recurrence of the cancerm and decided to off himself... RIP Ronnie.

He'd battled cancer, and staved off old age for long enough. And true to form, he chose his own exit the way he chose his own life

by **Babyblue** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 10:42 pm

by **verslibre** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 12:01 am

R.I.P. Ronnie. This really sucks. I love Montrose, Gamma and his solo albums. Open Fire, Diva Station, Music From Here and The Speed Of Sound are all awesome. There's not another guitarist like him.

by **Fact Finder** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 12:38 am

Well crap...I was just watching youtubes of Ronnie last week on a lark, had no idea he was sick.

R.I.P Ronnie..."Get on your Bad Motor Scooter and Ride"

:cry:

by **SunshineTwilight** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 12:53 am

Wow, what sad news, I didn't know he was ill either! I remember seeing Montrose back in the day with Sammy Hagar. What a loss!

by **Peartree12249** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 4:19 am

Well the bad news just keeps on coming.

As my 85 year old mother tells me all the time it sucks getting old.

Here's a great Montrose tune. RIP Ronnie

Rock Candy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUeuAnMNDhA

by **tater1977** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 4:31 am

WoW RIP Ronnie...

by **Peartree12249** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 4:41 am

I thought I'd share a great interview with Ronnie

Ronnie Montrose 96.9 The Eagle Sacramento 9/9/2011 Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLrJeA32mY4

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdQq5kOg ... re=related

Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpGVgyzw ... re=related

by **mikemarrs** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 5:10 am

R.I.P. Ronnie,That debut Montrose record has always been one of my favorite albums.

by **SF-Dano** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 3:34 am

RIP Ronnie. Thanks for the great tunes!!! Join that great jam session in the sky.

Nice Memorial video set to Montrose tune "Music Man"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dI3ITcmI5k&feature

Just a few of many, the many great Montrose performances and tunes:

Solo
Starliner (live/ Anyone recognize the drummer?) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eHjjT7kKbo&NR=1&feature
Town Without Pity (live) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AA-NFYhlr4
Mach 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFI3S4gx13w&feature

w/Van Morrison
Tupelo Honey - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxVFgFDage0&feature
Wild Night - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5AoaT_n1kw

w/Edgar Winter Group
Frankenstein - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIldF-pGUCU
Free Ride (live just last sept.) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35C3Le2UpmE

Gamma
Voyager - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cKsy4SALjk
Mobile Devotion - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrUn-Qvh20o&feature

by **slucero** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 12:32 pm

SF-Dano wrote:Starliner (live/ Anyone recognize the drummer?) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eHjjT7kKbo&NR=1&feature

by **SF-Dano** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 3:12 am

slucero wrote:
SF-Dano wrote:Starliner (live/ Anyone recognize the drummer?) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eHjjT7kKbo&NR=1&feature

Smitty... and the solo he has is a must watch... in fact the thole series is awesome...

Ronnie Montrose Live in New York City

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlOcifA1mlA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQzPtvOX ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEQ9w-Pt ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVBNvWTG ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AA-NFYh ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eHjjT7k ... re=related

Last time I saw him.... I was about 10 feet from the stage for this....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT4tZbxn ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75tUGMB1 ... re=related

Yes that whole series is great. Looks like that Hollister show was fairly recent. Very cool. The last time I saw Montrose was at a Bone Bash Concert about 6 or 7 years ago. They were one of the openers for Journey along with Y&T. Gonna miss Ronnie's talent big time.

by **verslibre** » Wed Apr 11, 2012 8:29 am

http://eddietrunk.com/index.cfm/pk/view/cd/NAA/cdid/434735/pid/400512

10-Apr-12 Guitarist Ronnie Montrose's Death Ruled A Suicide
Submitted by: Dana

Michael Molenda of Guitar Player reports:

It wasn’t prostate cancer that killed guitar legend Ronnie Montrose, but the clinical depression that plagued him since he was a toddler.

On March 3rd, 2012, he sought inner peace by taking his own life. A report by the San Mateo County Coroner’s Office, released on April 6th, confirms the guitarist died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Anticipating the coroner’s findings would soon be made public, the Montrose family asked me to write this article. I was a long-time friend and colleague, and the family wanted the painful story to be told by a member of the Bay Area media that Montrose himself knew and trusted.

The family also posted the following statement at http://ronniemontrose.com:

“By now, the devastating truth of Ronnie’s death is public knowledge. We hope you can understand why we wanted to keep this news a private family matter for as long as possible. We can only hope that you will choose to celebrate Ronnie’s life, and what his music meant to you, rather than mourn his passing. Ronnie would have wanted it that way. He loved being a guitarist, a composer, a producer, and a creator of magic. He fully understood his gifts, and yet he constantly pushed himself to evolve, improve, and make better music. He did this for himself, and he did this for you, because he adored and appreciated his fans. Please keep his energy, his joy, and his love in your hearts.”

Montrose did not leave a suicide note, but his wife/manager Leighsa Montrose feels he was probably always planning for an exit.

“Ronnie had a very difficult childhood, which caused him to have extremely deep and damaging feelings of inadequacy,” said Leighsa. “This is why he always drove himself so hard. He never thought he was good enough. He always feared he’d be exposed as a fraud. So he was exacting in his self criticism, and the expectations he put upon himself were tremendous. Now I see that perhaps he didn’t want to carry these burdens for very much longer.”

The torment of self-doubt likely contributed to Montrose’s long-term alcoholism. The toxicology report showed his blood-alcohol level at 0.31% when he died—almost four times the legal limit in California. No evidence of other drugs was found in his system.

“I knew I had married an alcoholic, but Ronnie was never anything but loving,” said Leighsa. “He could be curmudgeonly and cranky, but he was never angry or abusive to me in any way. He definitely had a reputation for his bad temper and controlling personality when he was younger, but he’d always say that I got the best version of himself, and we were nearly inseparable. We ate every meal together. I went to every show he played.”

Read the entire story at Guitar Player http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/ronnie-montrose-death-ruled-a-suicide/148205

MR

Hard Week to be a Rock Icon. RIP Ronnie Montrose

Hard Week to be a Rock Icon. RIP Ronnie Montrose

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