By Steve Newton
Hard-rock bassist Pete Way passed away yesterday at the age of 69, two months after sustaining life-threatening injuries in an accident at home.
He was known for his work with bands such as Fastway and Waysted, but mostly for his lengthy tenure with the highly underrated UFO, of which he was a founding member.
Way played on 16 of UFO’s 22 studio albums, including all the great ones from the seventies that featured guitar legend Michael Schenker: Phenomenon (1974), Force It (’75), No Heavy Petting (’76), Lights Out (’77), and Obsession (’78).
Apart from providing the bottom end on deathless UFO classics like “Rock Bottom” and “Doctor Doctor”–the song Iron Maiden used to psyche-up the crowd on its last tour–Way lent his talents as a songwriter as well, cowriting such wicked numbers as “Too Hot to Handle”, “Lights Out”, “Only You Can Rock Me”, and my personal fave, “One More For the Rodeo”.
R.I.P. Pete Way.