BILLY SHEEHAN On MR. BIG Calling It Quits After PAT TORPEY's Death: 'It Just Ain't The Same Without Him'

March 4, 2019

MR. BIG bassist Billy Sheehan says that there are no plans for the band to continue following last year's passing of Pat Torpey. The drummer died in February 2018 at the age of 64 from complications of Parkinson's disease.

Earlier today (Monday, March 4),Sheehan was asked by SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation" if MR. BIG is still pretty much a "closed door" 13 months after Torpey's death.

"There is no plan," Billy responded. "We went out just to finish some gigs that were already booked while Pat was alive, kind of to honor his memory a little bit. But it just ain't the same without him. I don't wanna be one of the bands — nothing against them. You've gotta do what you've gotta do. When you lose somebody and replace them and then replace somebody else, pretty soon the only thing original left is the logo. Nothing against bands that have to do that — I still love 'em, and that's great, and I'm glad for them — but it just didn't feel right doing that. We may go out in a year or so, maybe two years, and do some shows in some capacity. But I think we did the right thing by just moving on."

Last fall, MR. BIG singer Eric Martin told the "Friday NI Rocks" show that the band was planning to make a new studio record in 2019. But he added that once MR. BIG was done with its touring commitments, it would time for the group to call it quits. "Yeah, that's the last hurrah — that's it," he said. "It feels a little uncomfortable to keep going without Pat Torpey."

MR. BIG's latest album, "Defying Gravity", was released in July 2017 via Frontiers Music Srl.

After announcing his Parkinson's diagnosis in 2014, Torpey continued to write, record and perform with MR. BIG, who also recruited Matt Starr (Ace Frehley) to share drum duties.

MR. BIG, formed in 1988, produced numerous hit songs that ranged across a wide array of rock genres — be it ballads, heavy metal, or blues rock. Their hits include "Alive And Kicking", "Just Take My Heart" and the chart-topping ballad "To Be With You".

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