Hope Sandoval pays tribute to late Mazzy Star bandmate David Roback
Mazzy Starr lead singer Hope Sandoval has paid tribute to David Roback, her former bandmate who passed away last week.
Roback, the famed musician and producer who co-founded Mazzy Star alongside Hope Sandoval, died last week, aged 61. While specific details around Roback’s passing have been kept under wraps, David’s mother, Rosemary Roback has confirmed that “the cause was metastatic cancer.”
Roback, who was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, began life as a musician alongside his brother, Stephen Roback, when they formed the band Unconscious, which also included Susanna Hoffs who would later go on to become the lead singer and guitarist of The Bangles.
Given his thirst to create music, Roback became an active and influential figure in the Paisley Underground music scene in Los Angeles during the early to mid-1980s as the leader of the band Rain Parade.
After jumping around a number of different bands throughout the 1980s, Roback transitioned a group into Mazzy Star. Following the split of previous bands, Clay Allison and Opal, Roback invited vocalist Hope Sandoval to join as lead singer— a move which allowed the band to head into a new direction and toward major commercial success.
After years of performing across California’s Paisley Underground scene throughout the 1980s, Roback and his new band were about to hit the big time. The 1994 release ‘Fade Into You’ would propel them to new fame and firmly announce them as the ultimate dreamy pop-rock group of the 1990s.
Now, after the dust has settled around his death, Sandoval has reacted publicly to the news. “It’s been a few days since I lost my dear friend and I am devastated,” she wrote on social media with an accompanying poem. “Thank you all for the love.”
See the tribute, below.