Mick Ralphs

Michael Geoffrey Ralphs (31 March 1944 – 23 June 2025) was an English guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. He was a founding member of English rock bands Mott the Hoople and Bad Company. Despite not being a constant member, he appeared on every studio album released by both bands. In 2011, he formed the Mick Ralphs Blues Band with musicians he had met in a jam session.

Ralphs was described as "a versatile and skilful guitarist who could play anything from crunching power chords to delicate acoustic picking" and as "a major songwriting contributor."

Ralphs was born on 31 March 1944 in Stoke Lacy, Herefordshire. He did not start playing until he was 18, and described the music when he was growing up as bubblegum like Cliff Richard and Bobby Vee. He began his career playing with the blues-rock band the Buddies and released a single with them in 1964 before joining the Mod Doc Thomas Group in 1966. After a debut album that band changed its name twice, first to Silence in 1968 and then to Mott the Hoople in 1969. Ralphs remained with the band until 1973; he left soon after they achieved their commercial breakthrough with the David Bowie-produced album All the Young Dudes. Ralphs's last appearance with Mott The Hoople was on the Mott album in 1973 which featured the hit "All the Way from Memphis". The lyrics tell the story of Ralphs having his guitar stolen on Long Island before a gig in Memphis in 1972.

Ralphs founded Bad Company with vocalist Paul Rodgers from Free. Described as a "rock supergroup", their manager Peter Grant was the manager of Led Zeppelin, and Bad Company were the first band signed to Zeppelin's Swan Song label. The band's debut album, Bad Company in 1974, included the hit track written by Ralphs, "Can't Get Enough", for which he tuned his guitar in open-C tuning. He said it did not sound right in standard tuning: "It needs the open C to have that ring." The debut album reached number one in the United States. Ralphs continued to record and tour with Bad Company until they folded in 1982, after the release of Rough Diamonds. He commented, "Bad Company had become bigger than us all and to continue would have destroyed someone or something."

In 1984 he toured with Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour on Gilmour's About Face tour, although he did not play on the album. In 1985, Ralphs released a solo album, Take This, which included Free and Bad Company drummer Simon Kirke. He worked with future Bad Company guitarist Dave Colwell for a four-run live support of the album, which also featured drummer Chris Slade of Manfred Mann's Earth Band and keyboard player Lindsay Bridgewater, who performed with Ozzy Osbourne. He did one performance with a band called Cold Turkey.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.