UFO's Phil Mogg Has Heart Attack and Retires

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From Blabbermouth.net- "UFO frontman Phil Mogg is recovering after suffering a heart attack last week. The 74-year-old British-born musician was rushed to the hospital where he had two stents implanted into his coronary arteries. This is known medically as a coronary angioplasty and aims to re-open the blocked coronary artery by inserting one or more stents."

Farewell Tour is off and he's been told to retire or else. Saw 'em in 1975 and they absolutely killed it. Hats off to a classic front man and a band that in their late 70's prime was seriously rockin. Debauchery and excess pretty much undid them "Strangers in The Night" is one of the greatest hard rock live LPs of the period. A little reminder

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[SteveSly]

Sad news. UFO is one of those bands that I have always liked but never had the chance to see live.

[FrippWire]

He did an exemplary job. No shame in retirement. I wish him a full and speedy recovery.

[spellbound]

One of the great bands and I'm glad I saw them in 1975. Best of health in future, Phil.

[progmatist]

I remember when Ian Gillan left Sabbath to rejoin Purple, there were talks to have Phil replace Ian in Sabbath.

[Rajaz]

I'm sure Eddie Trunk is going to cry. I was lucky enough to have seen UFO live only once but was not a full show since it had 4 bands in one evening: Keith Emerson Band, UFO, Tesla and Scorpions. So UFO's set was only about 35 minutes and had no encore at Frank Irwin Center, Austin, TX 2002.

The other big UFO admirer/rocker but a real musician is Steve Harris who loves to have the PA system play Doctor Doctor before every Iron Maiden show. Like so many other great rock bands, UFO is not in the RR Hall and is one more ludicrous omission.

[spacefreak]

A sad thing... hope he's doing well...

Had tickets for this farewell tour. Also saw them during the The Wild, The Willing And The Innocent tour. A bad show as Mogg was too drunk to pull it out.

[bfd]

So...I just finished Pete Ways' autobiography "A Fast Ride Out of Here"..long story short, these guys totally tanked their own career with frantic indulgence in mind numbing quantites of drugs/booze/groupies. Add to that Mogg for some perverse reason loved antagonizing Schenker, who had elevated the band out of the bush league. The whole thing, Pete Ways conduct/life in particular, was pretty squalid and pathetic. Talk about a missed opportunity.

[SteveSly]

So...I just finished Pete Ways' autobiography "A Fast Ride Out of Here"..long story short, these guys totally tanked their own career with frantic indulgence in mind numbing quantites of drugs/booze/groupies. Add to that Mogg for some perverse reason loved antagonizing Schenker, who had elevated the band out of the bush league. The whole thing, Pete Ways conduct/life in particular, was pretty squalid and pathetic. Talk about a missed opportunity.

I read that a few years ago and came to the same conclusions. They certainly lived the rock n roll lifestyle to the hilt and it was not surprising why Schenker left the band not once but twice. UFO had the chance to be one of the biggest bands in rock n roll, but lifestyle and some bad career decisions really hurt their chances.

BTW for anyone who enjoy rock n roll bio's, this book is a great one as is Martin Popoff's book on UFO called "Shoot Out The Lights". I could not put either of them down.

[ronmac]

Had a chance to see them in 1978 (with, I think, Molly Hatchet and Foghat), but got busted for underage drinking (age 17) and had to give up my ticket. "WHAAAAAAA!!!"

Saw Schenker several years ago and he was fantastic.