Original Y&T Rhythm Guitarist Joey Alves Dies Aged 63
March 12th, 2017
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 Joey Alves |
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Joey Alves, former rhythm guitarist for San Francisco, California hard rock band Y&T, died on March 12th, 2017 at the age of 63.
Y&T frontman Dave Meniketti issued the following statement: “It’s with great sadness that I write this today. Y&T’s original rhythm guitarist, Joey Alves, passed away at 7:10 this morning at the age of 63. He suffered from ulcerative colitis and other complications that led to his passing. Joey was one of the finest rock rhythm guitarists, and I’ll always remember playing next to him chunking out those monster chords with his classic red double cutaway ’59 Les Paul Jr. As Ronnie Montrose once said about Joey, ‘There are rhythm players, then there’s Joey’. A class of his own…
“He was a fun guy who always played with attitude and conviction, and was responsible for writing some memorable riffs for Y&T over the years. His friendship and presence will be missed. This is a great loss for all the Y&T family and faithful. He now joins Phil (Kennemore, bass) and Leonard (Haze, drums) in rock and roll heaven.”
Joey Alves was born in Oakland, California and grew up in San Lorenzo, a small town south of Oakland. He was a founding member of Yesterday And Today, who released two full-length studio albums – Yesterday And Today (1976) and Struck Down (1978) – before shortening their moniker to Y&T in 1980. Alves appeared on Y&Ts first six studio albums – Earthshaker (1981), Black Tiger (1982), Mean Streak (1983), In Rock We Trust (1984), Down For The Count (1985) and Contagious (1987) – before departing in 1989.
