Dan McCafferty, the longtime lead singer of the Scottish rock band Nazareth whose searing vocals propelled a canopy of the ballad “Love Hurts” right into a Nineteen Seventies hit, has died, his longtime bandmate introduced.
McCafferty was 76, Nazareth bassist Pete Agnew stated on the band’s official Fb web page.
“That is the saddest announcement I ever needed to make,” Agnew wrote on Tuesday. “Maryann and the household have misplaced an exquisite loving husband and father, I’ve misplaced my finest buddy, and the world has misplaced one of many biggest singers who ever lived.”
The raspy-voiced McCafferty actually had one of the crucial distinctive and highly effective set of pipes in rock and was an inspiration to different heavy metallic singers like Axl Rose of “Weapons N’ Roses.”
“If it wasn’t for Dan McCafferty and Nazareth I wouldn’t be singing,” Rose stated in a 1988 interview.
McCafferty was a founding member of Nazareth, which was shaped in 1968 and took its identify from the Pennsylvania metropolis that was featured that very same yr in a tune by The Band referred to as “The Weight.”
Whereas Nazareth didn’t take pleasure in the identical worldwide success as rival rock acts like Black Sabbath or Deep Purple that emerged within the Nineteen Seventies, McCafferty and his bandmates carved out a distinct segment within the music world with very heavy cowl variations of different artists’ songs.
“Love Hurts,” a ballad first made well-known by The Everly Brothers and Roy Orbison as effectively, grew to become a global hit for Nazareth in 1974.
Nazareth additionally cranked out different notable covers like The Yardbirds’ “Form of Issues,” Joni Mitchell’s “This Flight Tonight,” and different songs through the band’s heydey within the Nineteen Seventies.
The band additionally scored a number of hits of their very own, together with “Hair of the Canine” which is a rock radio staple that continues to get airplay.
Whereas the band went by means of quite a few personnel modifications over time, McCafferty remained its voice till he retired in 2013 and 45 years of touring, citing persistent obstructive pulmonary illness (COPD) as the explanation.
“I may make one other file, however getting as much as do an hour and three-quarters, and get folks to pay cash to return and see me — I can’t do this,” McCafferty stated on the time. “When you can’t do the job you shouldn’t be there. Nazareth’s too large for that.”
No explanation for loss of life was listed on the band’s web page.
