MICK RALPHS

Hearing a particular guitarist on the radio when he was 18 changed his life. And what a life he went on to have, as guitarist and songwriter with Mott The Hoople and Bad Company.

- Ian Hunter and Paul Rodgers

March 31, 1944 - June 23, 2025

Ian Hunter and Paul Rodgers share their memories of their bandmate and friend with Classic Rock.

It's fair to say that Booker T. & The M.G.'s changed the course of Mick Ralphs's life. The Herefordshire electrician was 18 when he first heard Green Onions on Radio Luxembourg in 1962. "I loved the nasty guitar of it and the groove," he told Classic Rock in 2016. "I'd never heard anything like it before, and that inspired me to want to play guitar like that. It basically got me into blues and soul music and people like Howlin' Wolf and Chuck Berry. That was the trigger."

Ralphs wasted little time, and passed through a number of local acts prior to making an album with the Doc Thomas Group in 1967. After a brief spell as lead guitarist in Jimmy Cliff's backing band, he hooked up with Verden Allen, Dale Griffin, Pete Overend Watts and Stan Tippins to record demos as Silence. A name change and a personnel tweak later - out went Tippins, in came natural frontman Ian Hunter - and Mott The Hoople were born.

Mott's early status as underground cult favourites, nourished by a fiercely devoted fan base, was due in no small part to Ralphs's versatility. Powerhouse riff-rock, heaving sound textures, country blues, acoustic delicacy, he was across it all. Between them, he and Hunter carried the bulk of the songwriting load. Among his finest contributions were 1969 debut single Rock And Roll Queen, Thunderback Ram (with Ralphs on lead vocals), Whiskey Women, Ready For Love and One Of The Boys.