Bob Welch, Onetime Fleetwood Mac Guitarist, Dead at 66

Bob Welch, Onetime Fleetwood Mac Guitarist, Dead at 66

Some sad news to end with today: Former fleetwood Mac guitarist and 1970s rock star Bob Welch was found dead from an apparent suicide in which he shot himself in the chest in his Nashville home.

The sparse and depressing facts are straightforward and shared across reports -- the 66-year-old Welch left a suicide note and had been dealing with health problems -- so for further reading we'll direct you to The Los Angeles Times' Randall Roberts, whose report has among the best and most succinct background on Welch's musical career, which saw him flourish as a solo act after he left Fleetwood Mac just prior to the band's major commercial success:

The singer went solo, and scored a massive hit with "Ebony Eyes" in 1977. The album from which it was culled, "French Kiss," featured a number of former Fleetwood Mac members, as well as a rendition of "Sentimental Lady," a song originally recorded with Mac but reworked by Welch.

Here's Ebony Eyes: