One of the original members of the Scottish hard rock band Nazareth, Dan McCafferty, passed away at the age of 76.
The Dunfermline-born musician was well-known for his gruff vocals on iconic 1970s rock songs including Love Hurts, Hair Of The Dog, and Broken Down Angel.
He stayed with the band up until 2014 when he was forced to retire due to a lung disease that made it difficult for him to breathe.
Pete Agnew, the bassist for Nazareth, confirmed his demise. The reason wasn’t stated. Agnew posted on Instagram, “This is the hardest announcement I’ve ever had to make.
Too upset to speak more at this time, but Maryann and the family have lost a wonderful loving husband and father, I have lost my best friend, and the world has lost one of the finest singers who has ever lived.
The core members of Nazareth, including McCafferty, Agnew, Manny Charlton on guitar, and Darrell Sweet on drums, all got their start in a covers band named The Shadettes, which performed in clubs around Dunfermline in the middle of the 1960s while sporting similar yellow costumes.
Much like how Bon Scott eventually joined AC/DC, McCafferty had joined the group.
He admitted to Classic Rock magazine, “I was the band’s roadie. “The guys decided to give me a go when one of their singers decided he was departing on the day of a show.
“There was no rehearsal; it was a straight-in situation. Des, the man who had left, almost fit me in his yellow outfit.
The group decided to pursue a career as a rock band in their own right in 1970 after growing weary of performing covers.
After agreeing to be managed by fellow Dunfermline native and bingo hall millionaire Bill Fehilly, they resigned from their day jobs and traveled to London to make it official.
Following several months of playing shows throughout the city, McCafferty’s electrifying performances attracted Pegasus Records, which signed the group in 1971.
The band’s bassist Roger Glover was a fan and decided to produce their third album, 1973’s Razamanaz. Although their first two records, Nazareth and Exercises, weren’t commercial successes, they did well enough to secure an American tour with rock legends Deep Purple.
That turned out to be their big break, giving rise to the top 10 singles Broken Down Angel and Bad, Bad Boy as well as an unsettling interpretation of the folk song Morning Dew by Tim Rose, which went viral in Germany.
Six months later, they released Loud ‘N’ Proud as a follow-up, which was tougher and more aggressive and which generated another blockbuster success in Germany, this time a cover of Joni Mitchell’s This Flight Tonight. It also reached number one in Australia.
However, Nazareth’s breakthrough as a globally recognized band came with the release of the album Hair of the Dog the following year, with the title tune becoming a mainstay of 1970s rock radio.
Love Hurts, a hit for The Everly Brothers, was covered bluesily for that album and became the band’s lone US top 10 single. It also reached number one in six other nations, notably Norway, where it topped the charts for 60 weeks.
For the remainder of the 1970s, the band continued to release popular albums and made many appearances on the BBC’s Old Grey Whistle Test program, where they served as the backup act for any performers who had to cancel at the last minute due to a friendship with producer Mike Appleton.
Nazareth continued to be a well-liked touring act in Europe, notably Germany, even though their chart run dried up in the 1980s and 1990s. However, they were also a victim of the murky dealings of the music business throughout the hard rock era.
In an interview with Swedish rock journalist Michael Erikkson in 1989, McCafferty said, “We have had our ups and downs and a few attorneys got rich on the road.”
“Two bosses completely screwed us on separate occasions. Even now, we are unsure of the actual number of records we have sold.
Guns N’ Roses, who acknowledged Nazareth as a major influence and covered Hair Of The Dog on their 1993 album The Spaghetti Incident, ensured that the band’s reputation remained untarnished.
When McCafferty was diagnosed with chronic obstructive lung disease in 2014, he was obliged to resign.
He admitted to Classic Rock, “I can’t sing on tour like I used to anymore. I believe if you can’t do the job then you really shouldn’t be there. I’m sorry, but I can’t perform a whole set live anymore.
He nevertheless persisted in recording in the studio, and in 2019 he issued his last solo album, Last Testament.
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