Steve Riley (January 22, 1956 – October 24, 2023) was an American rock drummer, best known for his work with Keel, W.A.S.P., and L.A. Guns. After graduating high school in the 1970s, Riley moved to Los Angeles to pursue a music career. In 1979, he joined a revival of Steppenwolf, but the lineup broke up later that year.
Riley joined up-and-coming L.A. band Keel and recorded their breakthrough album The Right to Rock with them in 1984. Later that year, Riley departed Keel to replace founding member Tony Richards in W.A.S.P., another L.A. band whose debut album had recently achieved gold status in sales. As a member of W.A.S.P., Riley performed on the albums The Last Command, Inside the Electric Circus, and Live… in the Raw. Vocalist Ron Keel has described Riley as “driven to succeed and to play”. Keel applauded Riley’s decision to leave his band for the opportunity with W.A.S.P., saying “I mean, you’ve got to be ready for those opportunities when they knock”. Keel and Riley had remained friends.
Riley left W.A.S.P. and immediately joined rising Sunset Strip band L.A. Guns in 1987, becoming part of the band’s “classic” lineup alongside guitarists Tracii Guns and Mick Cripps, vocalist Phil Lewis and bassist Kelly Nickels. He appeared on the albums Cocked & Loaded, and Hollywood Vampires. Riley was fired from the band in 1992 but returned in 1995.
In 2006, there were two L.A. Guns lineups, Phil Lewis’s and Tracii Guns’s. Riley was a member of Lewis’s lineup until it folded in 2016 when merging with Guns’s version. Subsequently, Riley created his own version of L.A. Guns in 2019. This version released an album, Renegades, through Golden Robot records. Following lawsuits over the band name, a settlement was reached in April 2021, allowing this band to continue as Riley’s L.A. Guns.
Riley also starred as Billy the Bartender in the 2021 American horror slasher film, Blackstock Boneyard directed by Andre Alfa.
Steve Riley died after a severe case of pneumonia on October 24, 2023 at the age of 67.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Riley_(drummer)
Photo: Steve Riley | From http://www.facebook.com/RileysLAGuns
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OTHER NOTABLE MUSICIANS’ DEATHS
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If you want to know more about any of the musicians we lost, please check them out at
http://www.wikipedia.com
November 2023
1: Leela Omchery, 94, Indian classical singer and musicologist.
October 2023
31: Arie Levanon, 91, Romanian-born Israeli composer.
30: Aaron Spears, 47, American drummer (Lil Wayne, Carrie Underwood, Chaka Khan).
29: Tigran Alikhanov, 80, Russian pianist.
28: Doron Sheffer, 48, Israeli singer and composer.
27: Muhammad Nasser Al Azzawi, 53, Iraqi Qari and Nasheed singer; Axali Doëseb, 69, Namibian composer (“Namibia, Land of the Brave”), complications from diabetes; Swarup Nayak, 76, Indian music director, composer, and actor.
26: Goa Gil, 72, American musician, DJ, and remixer; Rigo Star, 68, Congolese soukous guitarist and composer.
25: Zdenek Mácal, 87, Czech conductor (Prague Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra); Shena Malsiana, 32, Indonesian singer (X Factor Indonesia), complications from lupus.
24: Lily Afshar, 63, Iranian classical guitarist, cancer; Ricardo Iorio, 61, Argentine heavy metal singer and bassist (Almafuerte, Hermética, V8); Steve Riley, 67, American drummer (Keel, W.A.S.P., L.A. Guns), pneumonia.
23: Chronis Aidonidis, 95, Greek folk singer; Angelo Bruschini, 62, English guitarist (The Blue Aeroplanes, Massive Attack), lung cancer; István Láng, 90, Hungarian composer, academic teacher (Franz Liszt Academy of Music) and cultural manager (International Society for Contemporary Music); Miroslaw Oblonski, 85, Polish writer, poet and singer (Piwnica pod Baranami); Mervin Shiner, 102, American country singer (“Why Don’t You Haul Off and Love Me”), songwriter and guitarist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_in_2023
Steve Riley, Drummer for Keel, W.A.S.P., L.A. Guns, Dies From Pneumonia // Other Notable Musicians’ Deaths
