The Rolling Stones collaborator, keyboardist Ian McLagan dies at 69

PanARMENIAN.Net - Ian McLagan, the electrifying pianist and songwriter of Small Faces and the Faces who became a rock 'n' roll journeyman with stints backing Rod Stewart, the Rolling Stones and others, died Dec. 3 in Austin, Texas, due to complications from a stroke suffered a day earlier. He was 69, The Hollywood Reporter said.

A statement said he was surrounded by family and friends in his adopted hometown. "Ian's artistry, generosity and warmth of spirit touched countless other musicians and music fans around the world. His loss will be felt by so many."

An active musician, in 2014 McLagan and his Bump Band released the album United States, he recorded with the Empty Hearts featuring Eliot Easton of the Cars and Clem Burke of Blondie and was about to tour with Nick Lowe on his Quality Holiday Revue.

Lowe was in Minneapolis where the tour started Dec. 3 and in an interview with Minnesota Public Radio's the Current he said "As we all know, he was a fellow who loved life, and there's no question of us not carrying on with the tour."

A native of Middlesex, England, he learned the piano as a child and became enthralled with the organ at the age of 13 after hearing Booker T. & the MG's. He made his first recording, a single, in 1965 as a member of the Muleskinners before joining Small Faces playing organ and electric keyboards behind singer-guitarist Steve Marriott and bassist-singer Ronnie Lane. He saw them as a soul band, though its influence was keenly felt among psychedelic acts that followed them.

Marriott left in 1969 with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood taking his place and the unit of McLagan, Stewart, Lane, Wood and Kenney Jones became known for their heavy drinking; the band made a habit of sounding like an act that could implode at any minute. "We were a fine drinking band," Stewart says in the Rhino box set Five Guys Walk Into a Bar, "and most of our best work was done in the pub."

McLagan co-wrote "Cindy Incidentally" and "You're So Rude," but his defining moment came on their 1971 track "Stay With Me," as hard-charging a record as the Faces ever made and the one closest to their high-energy live style.

When the Faces split up, McLagan stayed with Stewart, playing on his first five albums, including his legendary Every Picture Tells a Story and Never a Dull Moment. He also continued to record with Wood and Lane on their solo projects.

McLagan joined the Rolling Stones to record "Some Girls" in 1978 and toured with them as well. Highlights among the multiple recordings he appears on include Chuck Berry's "London Sessions," Carly Simon's "Spy," Bonnie Raitt's "Green Light" and Bruce Springsteen's "Human Touch" and "Lucky Town"; he toured with Bob Dylan in 1984.

McLagan formed his first edition of the Bump Band in 1979, recording "Troublemaker" for Mercury; Yep Roc re-released the seventh Bump Band album, United States, in June.

After moving to Austin 20 years ago, McLagan worked extensively with Americana acts, among them James McMurtry, the LeRoi Brothers, Robert Earl Keen and Patty Griffin.

The Faces and Small Faces were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, a double induction that did not sit well with McLagan. "It was nice to be thought of, but damnit, it's too little, way too late," he told the Austin Chronicle. "If that sounds like I'm ungrateful, then so be it."