NAZARETH's PETE AGNEW Pays Tribute To MANNY CHARLTON: 'His Contribution As A Musician Was Immeasurable'

NAZARETH bass player Pete Agnew, the only founding member still with the band, has paid tribute to original NAZARETH guitarist Manny Charlton who died in Texas on Tuesday, July 5 at the age of 80.

Pete wrote: "Sadly I have to tell you that Manny Charlton died on Tuesday (5th July) in Texas. There were no details available at the time of writing but I believe his death was sudden and not illness related.

"Manny was there from the very beginning of NAZARETH so we all came up together through the tough times and through the wonderfully successful years as the band became an international acclaimed outfit. His contribution as a musician was immeasurable. Not only was he a team player who loved jamming for hours at a time with the band and then sifting through the tapes for even more hours just looking to find the tiniest usable idea, he was never happier than when he was sitting in the producers chair making records and searching for that special 'racket' (noise) as he called it, that he was always trying to create. He produced several other bands and found his 'racket' a few times along the way but the one he was most proud of was 'Love Hurts', one of the best sounding records of all time and one of the songs on his first album as a producer.

"We had our ups and downs over the years but we never once disagreed about the music.

"I would like to offer condolences on behalf of the NAZARETH family to Manny's own family ... our thoughts are with you at this sad time."

Charlton is famous for the guitar riffs that catapulted NAZARETH to stardom during the 1970s. He played on, produced and wrote most of their greatest hits, including "Broken Down Angel", "Bad Bad Boy", "Hair Of The Dog" and countless others, not to mention producing the prototype rock ballad "Love Hurts", which was a Top 10 hit around the world in 1975 and stayed an unprecedented 60 weeks in the Norwegian chart.

Charlton released several high-quality albums since leaving NAZARETH in 1990, including "Hellacious" from 2014, which features an all-star lineup of classic rock legends, including Tim Bogert (VANILLA FUDGE, CACTUS),drummer Walfredo Reyes Jr. (SANTANA, TRAFFIC, Steve Winwood, Lindsey Buckingham),Vivian Campbell (DEF LEPPARD),Robert Sarzo, Steven Adler (GUNS N' ROSES) and a talented New York-based singer, Robyn DeLarenzo.

In a 2012 interview, Charlton stated about "Hair Of The Dog": "What that album did was set the band up for American success forever. Looking back, I'm still trying to understand why it was so successful. I've come to the conclusion that it's all about the attitude of the songs, performances and the rawness of the production. This was the first album that I produced for the band. Beginner's luck, you might say."

In 1986, Manny was brought in to produce GUNS N' ROSES' debut album, "Appetite For Destruction". Charlton ended up helming GN'R's 1986 Sound City demos that eventually received an official release on the 2018 "Appetite For Destruction" box set. As Manny told Legendary Rock Interviews a decade ago: "Axl's [Rose] favorite singer is [NAZARETH frontman] Dan McCafferty. He said to his label, 'Get me the guy who produced 'Hair Of The Dog' by NAZARETH.' What Axl wants, Axl gets.

"We left it saying, 'If we could get our respective schedules together, then great,'" he continued. "I was in the middle of recording 'Cinema' with NAZARETH and it didn't happen."