Good afternoon, Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) sports fans.
We step out of the ACC to remember Cinderella guitarist, Jeff LaBar.
Cinderella, by all accounts, is known as one of the top 20 hair metal bands of all time. I qualify a top 20 hair metal band as a group that has at least seven decent songs – and Cinderella certain fits that bill.
Jeff LaBar died on July 14, 2021 at the age of 58.
CINDERELLA Guitarist JEFF LABAR Dead At 58 https://t.co/0U1iztHbHS pic.twitter.com/7sZftiyPok
— BLABBERMOUTH.NET (@BLABBERMOUTHNET) July 14, 2021
LaBar really lived the 1980s hair metal lifestyle (via @blabbermouthnet). See more below:
LaBar went on to say that the touring lifestyle “fed [his] appetite for partying… all the way back to the ’80s.” He explained: “I have a history. It’s not just these past issues. I have a history of drinking and cocaine… In the ’80s, it was cocaine abuse. In the ’90s, it was heroin. I went through every cliché phase that a rock star could go through. It just wasn’t highly publicized. I was arrested, I went through rehab, I did all the things MÖTLEY CRÜE did. I just didn’t publicize it. I was MÖTLEY CRÜE and GUNS N’ ROSES all wrapped into one. As a band, we tried to hide our dirty laundry, and most of our dirty laundry was me. We didn’t try to hide it; we just didn’t publicize it. We just didn’t tell people. ‘Oh, yeah, Jeff’s in rehab. Jeff’s in jail. Jeff’s in… whatever.’ We just didn’t publicize it. We actually kept it to ourselves. It was our family. It was our family business, and that’s how we treated it.”
Many of these hair metal musicians have so many demons in their backgrounds and unfortunately, LaBar couldn’t quite beat those struggles in his life.
His bandmates sent out condolences (via @blabbermouthnet), but you could see that LaBar’s struggles impacted the entire band from going out on tour together. Many bands only want to go out on tour with original members so they put the entire group on hold indefinitely.
It was great to see how many 80s hair metal musicians dropped tributes on their social media timelines in honor of LaBar (via @blabbermouthnet).
Towards that end, I’ll drop my own tribute to Jeff LaBar:
Rest in Peace, Jeff LaBar!!
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