Photo: Ric Cabot Podmore & Brett Tuggle (courtesy of Mr. Podmore) | By Daniela Avila, People | Brett Tuggle, a keyboardist who played for Fleetwood Mac and Rick Springfield, has died at 70.
Tuggle’s son Matt confirmed the news to Rolling Stone, attributing his death to complications related to cancer.
On Monday, Springfield paid tribute to the musician, who was also a founding member of the David Lee Roth Band. “Our sweet Brett Tuggle made it home tonight,” Springfield wrote on Twitter. “God bless his beautiful spirit.”
Meanwhile, his son said he was “loved by his family so much.”
“His family was with him throughout the entire time of his illness. He was a lovely father. He gave me music in my life,” he continued.
The musician was born in Denver, Colorado and at a young age learned how to play the piano then the guitar. He took gigs at small venues in Denver before working in Texas.
However, Tuggle’s career took off in 1981 when he started playing with John Kay & Steppenwolf — before he met Springfield and joined his band in 1982. He also spent years touring with David Lee Roth between 1986 to 1994 and was one of the band’s founding members. Together, they wrote the 1988 hit “Just Like Paradise.”
Tuggle played with Fleetwood Mac from 1997 to 2017 during their reunion era, after first entering the band’s orbit in 1992 when he landed a gig with Mick Fleetwood’s side project the Zoo.
In 2018, he was dismissed from the band and previously said he believed it was because Stevie Nicks thought he was too close to fired guitarist Lindsey Buckingham. Tuggle had also joined both of them during their solo outings, but it came down to scheduling conflicts.
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He also said he was “really shocked” when he got the call he was out of the band.
“I also realized that I was in the middle of the politics of Lindsey and Stevie and this band, and there was nothing I was going to be able to do about it,” he explained. “I had become Lindsey’s guy and that was it, and I had to accept it.”
Tuggle toured with Buckingham in 2021, but did not rejoin when the tour started back up in April.
“I do want to mention the gentleman who is noticeably absent from the stage tonight,” Buckingham told the crowd at the tour’s opening night in San Francisco on April 5. “Mr. Brett Tuggle is having a little bit of a health problem. Hopefully he’ll be back for the next show, whatever it takes. We missed him tonight.”
He is survived by his two children, son Matt and daughter Michelle.
Read the full story here:
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/fleetwood-mac-keyboardist-brett-tuggle-225252211.html
Ric Cabot Podmore: So very saddened to hear of the passing of my beautiful friend Brett. “Tuggs” was legendary in our part of the world… his INCREDIBLE musicality led him out of Denver and onto the biggest stages in rock music. From Steppenwolf to Rick Springfield, Coverdale/Page & David Lee Roth to Fleetwood Mac & Lindsay Buckingham, he was the ABSOLUTE ace sideman. Bretty, thank you so much for ALWAYS being one of my biggest supporters…your love and inspiration will live with me forever. I love you, man. RIP
https://www.facebook.com/riccabotpodmore
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Tuggle
Photo: Ric Cabot Podmore & Brett Tuggle (Photo courtesy of Ric Cabot Podmore)
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OTHER NOTABLE MUSICIANS’ DEATHS
Our music community continues to lose our talented artists to COVID-19, suicides – staggering loses. We are going to miss them so much. If you want to know more about any of the musicians we lost, please check them out at http://www.wikipedia.com
June 2022
22: Patrick Adams, 72, American record producer, music arranger, and musician (The Universal Robot Band, Musique).
21: Pierre Narcisse, 45, Cameroonian-born Russian singer and actor (The Barber of Siberia); James Rado, 90, American actor (Lions Love), playwright and composer (Hair), Grammy winner (1969).
20: Dennis Cahill, 68, American guitarist (The Gloaming).
19: Brett Tuggle*, 70, American keyboardist (Fleetwood Mac, David Lee Roth) and songwriter (“Just Like Paradise”), cancer.
18: Iulia Buciuceanu, 90, Romanian operatic mezzo-soprano; Gian Pietro Felisatti, 72, Italian music producer, composer, and songwriter; Adibah Noor, 51, Malaysian singer and actress (Mukhsin, Talentime, Crayon), ovarian cancer.
17: Sasha Skul, 33, Russian rapper.
16: Big Rude Jake, 57, Canadian musician, small-cell carcinoma; Ivonne Haza, 83, Dominican operatic soprano (Eduardo Brito National Theater); Rino Vernizzi, 75, Italian bassoonist.
15: Maureen Arthur, 88, American actress (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, The Love God?, A Man Called Dagger); Missill, 42, French disc jockey, cancer (death announced on this date).
14: Subhomoy Chatterjee, Indian actor and singer (Mahalaya); Joel Whitburn, 82, American author and music historian (Billboard).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_in_2022