TWISTED SISTER Pays Tribute To FRANKIE BANALI: He Was 'An Inspiration'

TWISTED SISTER has paid tribute to Frankie Banali, who died earlier this week after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

On Friday (August 21),the members of TWISTED SISTER shared a photo that was taken when the QUIET RIOT drummer joined them for a two-song set in May 2016 at the Vegas Rocks! Hair Metal Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada, and they included the following message: "The TWISTED SISTER family has just lost another member. Frankie Banali, one of the founding members of QUIET RIOT has just lost his extreamely brave fight with pancreatic cancer.

"Frankie filled in for Mike Portnoy at the Las Vegas Metal awards show in 2016. Frankie became, for the day, the 9th drummer to pass through our history. We all shared (in 1983 and 1984) one of the greatest eras in the history of metal. Our thoughts go out to his family and to Rudy Sarzo, a QR bandmate and also a dear friend of ours. This coming on the heels of the death of Pete Way is all too much and too soon. The music world in general and the metal world in particular mourns the loss of both.

"Frankie was an inspiration in his fight to win this and we celebrate his memory tonight with family and friends...

"Jay Jay, Dee, Eddie, Mark as well as our agent Danny Stanton who brought Frankie to us for the Las Vegas show. Those memories, only 4 years ago feel like yesterday.

"RIP FRANKIE

"#frankiebanali #quietriot #twistedsister"

Frankie was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer on April 17, 2019 and given six months to live. He put up an inspiringly brave and courageous 16-month battle to the end and continued playing live as long as he could. Standard chemotherapy stopped working and a series of strokes made the continuation on a clinical trial impossible. He ultimately lost the fight at 7:18 p.m. on August 20 in Los Angeles surrounded by his wife and daughter.

Banali was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer after going to the emergency room for shortness of breath, leg pain and loss of energy. A scan of his lungs caught an image of his liver, which is where the first spots were seen. Then came the discovery of a tumor on his pancreas.

He had been in treatment since the spring of last year and recently completed his 21st round of chemotherapy with the hopes of shrinking or controlling the cancer.