Guy Bailey, a guitarist for, and co-founder of, the British rock band Quireboys, has died.
Spike – the band's longtime frontman – confirmed Bailey's death in a Facebook post. No cause of death was revealed.
"I'm heartbroken to have to write this. My best friend Guy Bailey passed away peacefully in hospital last night in the arms of his beloved Bianca," Spike – whose real name is Jonathan Gray – wrote today (April 7).
"Guy was the kindest, funniest man you could have the pleasure of being around. He was loved by everyone he ever worked with, all the bands he ever toured with and all the Quireboys fans he ever met. He certainly loved you all more than you will ever know.
"I have so much I would like to share and say to everyone about him but this is just such a hard time for me and everyone close to him. I hope you all understand. But for the Quireboys fans out there I would just like to say, me and Guy Bailey have written the songs for a new album, and me and Chris Johnstone, Nigel Mogg, and Rudy Richman will fulfill his wishes that these songs are recorded and a new Quireboys album will be released this year.
"So everyone raise a glass for Guy Bailey and let's keep rock 'n' roll alive for him."
Though they never saw much success in the US, the Quireboys – and their straight-ahead, no-nonsense rock sound – were hugely successful in their native United Kingdom.
Bailey was one of the band's co-founders, and co-wrote all of the tracks on their hugely successful 1990 debut album, A Bit of What You Fancy, including the album's UK Top 20 hit single, Hey You.
Bailey played a similarly integral role on the band's 1993 sophomore effort, Bitter Sweet and Twisted, which – three years after their debut nearly topped the UK charts – was swept under the rug by the grunge tidal wave, leading to the band's dissolution shortly thereafter.
Bailey – a low-key, Keith Richards-like presence both personality-wise and on guitar – didn't participate in the Quireboys' ongoing reunion (which began in 2001), but recently began collaborating with Spike once again.
After the frontman was booted out of the Quireboys in 2022, Spike formed a competing version of the band with Bailey on guitar. The two went on to collaborate on a number of songs for a new album that's provisionally set for release later this year.
“On the first day I sat down with Guy Bailey – the first time in years – we wrote five songs," Spike told Louder in an interview earlier this year, "and they’re pure Quireboys, just the way we sound – good old British rock ’n’ roll.”
