ROSE TATTOO Frontman: PETE WELLS Was An 'Amazingly Innovative Player'

March 28, 2006

ROSE TATTOO singer Angry Anderson has commented on the death of the band's guitarist Pete Wells, who passed away in Sydney on Monday (March 27) after a long fight with cancer.

A close friend, Anderson said Wells's health had deteriorated dramatically in the past few weeks, according to News.com.au.

Diagnosed with prostate cancer three years ago, the guitarist had "knocked that on the head", only to have the cancer spread to other parts of his body, Anderson said.

He passed away at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, surrounded by his wife and immediate family.

Anderson paid tribute to Wells today, saying he "had a magic that will live a lot longer than any of us".

"His influence (as a guitar player and songwriter) goes right around the world," he said.

"The musical fraternity in Australia have always realized what wonderful music he's left us, and what an amazingly innovative player he was.

"And we got to meet a lot of young bands when we were touring overseas, who said ROSE TATTOO had a huge influence on them. Big bands like METALLICA and GUNS N' ROSES."

"The music 30 years on was still rich and influential."

Wells was also a private man. After knowing the guitarist for 30 years, Anderson said there were some things he never knew about him, including how old he was.

"In all the 30 years I've known him, there were certain things I didn't know about him, and his age was one of them," Anderson said.

"That's just the way he was. He was a very private about a lot of things.

"He always claimed he was younger than me, but I knew he wasn't. But I'm 58, and he could only have been a few years older than me."

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