Guns N' Roses producer Manny Charlton is dead. He died in Texas at the age of 80, his grandson confirms on Facebook. As co-founder and guitarist of the Scottish hard rock band Nazareth, Charlton made a name for himself in the 70s - and caused a scandal.
The hard rock world mourns the loss of Manny Charlton. The founding member of the Scottish cult band Nazareth recently passed away. He was 80 years old. This was initially announced by his grandson Jamie Charlton via Facebook.
There he shared a photo of himself and his grandfather and captioned it, "RIP Grandad." On Thursday (July 7th) his ex-band also confirmed his death, also on Facebook. It says that Charlton died on July 5 in the US state of Texas.
Manny Charlton is considered one of the pioneers of modern guitar sound and set new standards with his playing in the early 1970s. He was largely responsible for world hits like "Love Hurts", "Dream On" or "Broken Down Angel". Born in Spain, Charlton has also produced much of the music of Nazareth since the mid-1970s.
Ex-band member Pete Agnew wrote on Facebook: "Manny has been with Nazareth since the beginning and we went through tough times together before we found international success. We've had our ups and downs over the years but we never got over the ones Music argument. I want to offer my condolences to Manny's family on behalf of the Nazareth family. We are thinking of you at this difficult time."
In 1987 he was recognized in the music scene for his producing work for the then up-and-coming band Guns N' Roses. Together with Axl Rose, Slash and Co. he created their celebrated debut "Appetite for Destruction".
In 1990 Charlton left the band Nazareth and concentrated on his solo career. In 2007 he founded the band Nazareth with Manny Charlton with three unknown musicians, which had nothing in common with the actual group. The original band Nazareth took legal action against their ex-member Charlton and prevented his new project because of the legally protected name.
