Pete Garner, the original bassist in The Stone Roses, has died at the age of 61.
The news was reported by Louder Than War on Friday (November 3), with Stone Roses frontman Ian Brown leading the tributes on X, formerly Twitter.
Speaking about his former bandmate, Brown wrote: “Yeah very sad. We were young punk rockers when we met in 77. The nite before Petes maths and geography O levels we went to see the Clash. Always made me chuckle he did that and of course he made the right decision! X”
Yeah very sad. We were young punk rockers when we met in 77. The nite before Petes maths and geography O levels we went to see the Clash. Always made me chuckle he did that and of course he made the right decision! X
— Ian Brown (@ianbrown) November 3, 2023
Everything you’re sayin brother! Few loved music as much as Pete he been bathing in music since Anarchy in the Uk came out that i can vouch for and Pete was off the scale nice, an old skool nice that ya just dont get no more! He got that from his lovely Mum! GOD Bless Pete RiP X
— Ian Brown (@ianbrown) November 3, 2023
In a separate post, Brown added: “Few loved music as much as Pete he been bathing in music since [Sex Pistols‘] Anarchy in the Uk came out that i can vouch for and Pete was off the scale nice, an old skool nice that ya just dont get no more! He got that from his lovely Mum! GOD Bless Pete RiP X”
Garner had been a school friend of Brown and Stone Roses guitarist John Squire, and he first stood in on bass at the very last performance of Brown and Squire’s first band The Patrol in 1980.
When The Stone Roses finally formed three years later, Garner was recruited on bass, with Andy Couzens on rhythm guitar and Simon Wolstencroft on drums. Alan ‘Reni’ Wren later replaced Wolstencroft in 1984.
They played their first gig in October 1984, and released their debut single, the double A-side ‘So Young’ and ‘Tell Me’ the following year.
A month after the release of second single ‘Sally Cinnamon’ in the summer of 1987, Garner announced he was leaving the band. Louder Than War notes that Garner left the band because he “believed he wasn’t good enough for them”, and went to work at HMV.
He taught his replacement Rob Hampson the bass parts before leaving, but Hampson was swiftly replaced by Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield later in 1987.
Last month, Liam Gallagher teased that his upcoming joint album with John Squire will be “the best record since The Beatles’ ‘Revolver’”. The former Oasis singer had brought Squire out during his Knebworth shows last year to play on ‘Champagne Supernova’.
