Remembering 2025’s Music Losses: Mick Ralphs

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Another day, another band member. Oh, if you think you have it bad now, wait until tomorrow…when we’ll have country music! See, things can always be worse. Meanwhile, today, here’s someone who at least was alive long enough to learn he’d been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Mick Ralphs Why was he inducted? He was the guitarist and one of the primary songwriters for the 70s band Bad Company. He’d been ill for years after a stroke, but at least he was able to convey his happiness that the band was honored before his death. Before Bad Company, Mick Ralphs was the guitarist in Mott the Hoople. He wrote their song “All the Way From Memphis,” which was respectable but not a big hit. Seeing the opportunity to form a “supergroup” with Free’s vocalist Paul Rodgers, Ralphs left Mott the Hoople just before their biggest hit, “All the Young Dudes.” Fear not, he didn’t spend the rest of his life kicking himself. Bad Company took off immediately, with hits like “Can’t Get Enough,” “Good Lovin’ Gone Bad,” and “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” all of which Ralphs wrote. Bad Company reunited in the mid-2010s for a “farewell” tour, but Ralphs sat part of it out. He rejoined them for a few shows, including their end-of-tour show in London in October 2016. After the show, he suffered a stroke. He remained bedridden until his death in June 2025, shortly after it was announced that Bad Company had been elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Despite being confined to bed, he was cognizant of the fact that he was going to be inducted when the announcement was made in April. I’m happy that at least he got that satisfaction. Mick Ralphs Born Michael Geoffrey Ralphs, March 31, 1944, Stoke Lacy, Herefordshire Died June 23, 2025, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire (complications of stroke) (age 81) HALL OF FAME: Rock and Roll, 2025 (with Bad Company) One of my favorite Bad Company songs, “Oh, Atlanta.” Mick Ralphs wrote this. It’s no relation to Little Feat’s song “Oh Atlanta.” And, maybe to shock the daylights out of you, bluegrass singer Alison Krauss covered this song in 1995!!