(Reuters) - Bob
Welch, an early member of rock band Fleetwood Mac who enjoyed a
successful solo career with hits such as "Ebony Eyes," died on Thursday
of an apparent suicide at home in Nashville. He was 66.
Police said Welch's body was
found by his wife Wendy with a single gunshot wound to the chest, and he
had left a suicide note. Welch suffered from health problems, but
police did not disclose what those issues were.
Mick
Fleetwood, one of the founding members of Fleetwood Mac and Welch's
manager during his solo career, had remained in close contact with his
former band mate over the years and told Reuters that Welch's suicide
was "incredibly out of character."
"He
was a very, very profoundly intelligent human being and always in good
humor, which is why this is so unbelievably shocking," he said.
"He
was a huge part of our history which sometimes gets forgotten ...
mostly his legacy would be his songwriting abilities that he brought to
Fleetwood Mac, which will survive all of us," Fleetwood said.
"If you look into our musical history, you'll see a huge period that was completely ensconced in Bob's work."
Welch
is the second member of Fleetwood Mac to die this year. In January,
another former guitarist for the band, Bob Weston, died in London from a
gastrointestinal hemorrhage, at the age of 64.
Welch
was born on August 31, 1945 in Los Angeles to movie producer father
Robert L. Welch and actress mother Templeton Fox. He moved to Paris to
study French at the Sorbonne, then returned to Los Angeles in the early
1970s.
He was invited to join
Fleetwood Mac after the departure of founding members Peter Green and
Jeremy Spencer. He played guitar and was a vocalist with the band from
1971 to 1974, working on five of their early albums including 1971's
"Future Games," 1972's "Bare Trees" and 1973's "Mystery to Me."
It
was after Welch's departure from the band in 1975 that Fleetwood Mac
went on to find its largest measure of fame on albums such as 1977's
"Rumours" with the addition of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks to
the band's lineup.
Nicks released a statement, calling Welch's death "devastating."
"He
was an amazing guitar player - he was funny, sweet - and he was smart -
I'm so very sorry for his family and for the family of Fleetwood Mac -
so, so sad," Nicks said.
Welch
fell out with his former band mates after suing the group in 1994 for
unpaid royalties, which led to his exclusion from the group's Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame induction in 1998.
The
singer and guitarist formed a hard rock group called Paris in 1975,
releasing two albums, "Paris" and "Hunt Sales," before disbanding the
group a few years later and embarking on a solo career.
His
debut solo record, the pop-driven "French Kiss" in 1977, went platinum
and produced the hits "Sentimental Lady," "Ebony Eyes" and "Hot Love,
Cold World." Welch followed up with 1979's "Three Hearts," and four more
albums throughout the early 1980s, none of which emulated the same
success as "French Kiss."
He moved
to Phoenix, Arizona, in 1987 and formed a short-lived group called
Avenue M, before moving to Nashville in the late 1990s, working on a
songwriting career and releasing a tribute to bebop music, "Bob Welch
Looks At Bop," in 1999.
His most
recent albums, 2003's "His Fleetwood Mac Years and Beyond" and 2006's
"His Fleetwood Mac Years and Beyond 2," had previously unreleased
material as well as new compositions.