Former Queen bassist Barry Mitchell has died.
The “terribly sad news” was announced by Greg Brooks, the band’s official archivist, on Facebook this week.
Mitchell was Queen’s second bassist, after Mike Grose, and played 13 gigs with the band between August 1970 and January 1971 before leaving because he “wasn’t enthusiastic enough about their music”.
Doug Bogie then took over for two gigs before the band finally settled on long-time bassist John Deacon.
Queen released their self-titled debut album in 1973 and achieved international stardom with their 1975 record A Night at the Opera.
In 2018, Mitchell spoke to Rolling Stone magazine about his time with the band in their early days.
“We played quite a few concerts in England, notably in Liverpool,” he said.
“Since we didn’t have enough original songs to last a whole show and Freddie [Mercury] loved classic rock & roll, we played that too.”
Asked about his exit from the band, Mitchell told Rolling Stone that he was “fired” because his fellow bandmates “thought I was useless”.
However, he went on to say: “In fact, it was me who wasn’t enthusiastic enough about their music.
“This didn’t necessarily go in the direction I wanted to go. At the time, they weren’t at all the cult band you all know.
“I didn’t see the potential. It’s crazy to say this now but it’s the truth.”
After leaving Queen, Mitchell went on to play with Tiger, a proto-punk band formerly known as Crushed Butler, which disbanded in late 1971.
Mitchell’s death has been met with tributes from friends and fans on social media.
Friend Mark Cotterill wrote: “Farewell to a genuinely lovely man. A pleasure to call him friend. He had time for everyone at the Queen conventions. He had some great stories to tell re his music career. A man who could make any hat look cool. RIP Barry.”
Gary Taylor wrote: “RIP Barry Mitchell, Queen’s second bass player, who sadly passed away on August 17th.
‘He was a great guy, and a friend, and we had some very interesting chats over the years on the phone and in person.”