Queen‘s second bassist, Barry Mitchell has passed away at the age of 76, and confirming the news, the iconic group’s official archivist, Greg Brooks, took to Facebook with a throwback black-and-white photo of the musician and the caption:
“Terribly sad news just received that early Queen bass player, Barry Mitchell, has passed away,” he wrote “His anecdotes at the convention were fascinating and offered rare insight. He will be greatly missed.”
In 1970, Mitchell replaced Queen’s original bassist Mike Grose, though his time with the band was short-lived, performing 13 shows alongside legendary members Freddie Mercury, Brian May and Roger Taylor between August 1970 and January 1971.
Following the stickman’s departure, the trio performed with Doug Bogie for two gigs before John Deacon joined them in February 1971, completing the We Will Rock You band’s most famous line-up.
During his 2018 interview with Rolling Stone, when asked why he left the now-legendary group, he initially joked that he was “fired because they thought I was useless” but then conceded that he “wasn’t enthusiastic enough about their music” during those early years, adding “This didn’t necessarily go in the direction I wanted to go.” “At the time, they weren’t at all the cult band you all know. I didn’t see the potential. It’s crazy to say this now but it’s the truth.”
Though his age and cause of death have yet to be publicly disclosed, Barry Mitchell is survived by two daughters.
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Author: Al Dente
Photo: Christopher Hopper; distributed by Elektra Records – Public Domain