Dan McCafferty, former lead singer of Scottish hard rock band Nazareth, died Tuesday. He was 76.
Bassist Pete Agnew shared the news in a Facebook post. “This is the saddest announcement I ever had to make. 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 greatest singers who ever lived,” he wrote.
“Too upset to say anything more at this time.”
(Agnew, 76, is now the only surviving member of the original Nazareth line-up. Guitarist Manny Charlton died in July at 80 and drummer Darrell Sweet died in 1999 at 51.)
McCafferty co-founded Nazareth in 1968, co-wrote songs like "Broken Down Angel" and “Bad, Bad Boy” and sang on the band’s first 23 studio albums.
Nazareth, which took its name from “The Weight” by the Canadian-American group The Band, had most of its success with covers of songs like the Everly Brothers ballad “Love Hurts” and Bob Dylan’s “Ballad of Hollis Brown.” They also put their spin on songs by Canadian artists like Joni Mitchell (“This Flight Tonight”) and Bonnie Dobson (“Morning Dew”).
Nazareth, pictured in 1975. Keystone/Getty Images
In 2013, Nazareth announced that McCafferty was leaving due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The announcement came weeks after the band scrapped a Canadian tour after McCafferty collapsed on stage only minutes into the first show, in Cranbrook, B.C.
McCafferty released his third and final solo album, The Last Testament, in 2019.
At the end of a 2014 interview, McCafferty was asked if he wanted to share a final thought. He replied: “Look out for yourselves and be kind to each other.”
He is survived by his wife and two children.