Former LOU REED, FOREIGNER And DOWNCHILD Keyboardist MICHAEL FONFARA Dies At 74

January 10, 2021

Internationally renowned Canadian keyboard player Michael Fonfara has died in a Toronto hospital on January 8, 2021, due to complications from his two-year battle with cancer. He was 74.

Born in Stevensville, Ontario in 1946, the former Lou Reed keyboardist/bandleader appeared on nine of Reed's albums between 1974 and 2005, including his highest-charting U.S. album (#10) "Sally Can't Dance" on RCA, as well as "Rock And Roll Heart", "Street Hassle", "The Bells" (which Fonfara executive produced) and "Growing Up In Public" that was co-written and co-produced by Fonfara for Clive Davis' Arista Records in 1980.

A supremely talented musician, Fonfara loved many different styles of music, performing on British-American rock band FOREIGNER's iconic album "4", produced by Robert "Mutt" Lange, including their Top 5 Billboard Hot 100 hit "Urgent". He also recorded with THE EVERLY BROTHERS, ROUGH TRADE, RHINOCEROS, ELECTRIC FLAG and was a current and 30-year plus member of Canadian blues legends DOWNCHILD, who are perhaps best known as the inspiration for Hollywood stars Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi's hit film "The Blues Brothers", until his untimely death.

"He's the best musician I've ever worked with," states DOWNCHILD leader and co-founder Donnie Walsh. Bassist Gary Kendall echoes that sentiment "Yesterday we lost a brother, a bandmate, a co-writer and a dear friend. If you met him, you loved him. A creative genius."

Fonfara's final recording was DOWNCHILD's "Live At The Toronto Jazz Festival", recorded at their 50th-anniversary party in 2019, where he performed live alongside special guests Dan Aykroyd, Paul Shaffer, David Wilcox, Kenny Neal, Gene Taylor and Erja Lyytinen. The new album was just released worldwide on October 16, 2020, as the final chapter of his illustrious career.

2018 Juno Award (Canadian equivalent of a Grammy Award) winners DOWNCHILD include some of the most well-respected musicians in Canada, who have performed together for over 25 years — guitarist, harmonica player, leader and co-founder of the band Walsh, lead singer and harmonica player Chuck Jackson, Pat Carey on tenor sax, Mike Fitzpatrick on drums, Kendall on bass, and Fonfara on keyboards.

Fonfara is survived by his wife Avril, his daughters Ciara and Ashley and his grandchildren Brooklyn, Camden, Jamie and Jaxon.

Find more on Foreigner
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).