Guitarist Sam Andrew Passes

0

Sam Andrew, guitarist in Big Brother, passesSam Andrew, founding member of the psychedelic-rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company, died February 12. He was 73, and reportedly suffered a heart attack following open-heart surgery.

Big Brother was among the standard-bearers of the San Francisco acid-rock scene of the late ’60s. Other members of the  band included Janis Joplin (vocals), Peter Albin (bass) James Gurley (guitar) and David Getz (drums). Joplin and Gurley are also deceased.

Andrew played the solo on the band’s cover of “Piece of My Heart.” He left the band with Joplin to form the Kozmic Blues Band, but returned to Big Brother after a year, and stayed with the band through various incarnations.

Andrew was featured twice in Vintage Guitar; the first by Willie Moseley (in the February and March ’99 issues), and by Pete Prown in November of 2012.

No posts to display