ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, JUNE 7, 2011
L.A. singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Gold, whose hits in the ’70s included “Lonely Boy” and “Thank You For Being a Friend”, died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack on Friday (June 3), exactly two months before his 60th birthday.
Gold’s career highlights included performing with the likes of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and Freddie Mercury, and touring with the Eagles, James Taylor, and Jackson Browne. He played a number of instruments on Linda Ronstadt’s biggest hits, including “You’re No Good”, “Heatwave”, and “When Will I Be Loved?”.
I remember owning at least one of Gold’s LPs, 1976’s “What’s Wrong With This Picture?”, which had a cover that was fun to look at because you could try and figure out what was wrong with it. I quite liked the hit single from that album, “Lonely Boy”; I didn’t care so much for its followup, “Thank You For Being a Friend”, which was co-opted as the theme song for the TV sitcom Golden Girls.
The video for “Lonely Boy” that appears above was taken from the seventies concert series Midnight Special, and features a solo by famed L.A. guitarist and producer Waddy Wachtel. He was in town six weeks ago, playing with Rod Stewart at the latter’s surprisingly wonderful Rogers Arena gig.
Gold leaves behind his wife, Leslie Kogan; daughters Emily, Victoria, and Olivia; and his mother, singer Marni Nixon.