Rapidfire’s Kevin Lawrence dead at 51

LOS ANGELES, California — Sad to report that Rapidfire guitarist Kevin Lawrence has died.

According to friends close to Lawrence he had recently suffered several heart attacks brought on by pneumonia and was hospitalized on life support.

Sadly Lawrence did not recover and lost his battle on January 14th  2016.

Lawrence’s band Rapidfire is most recognized for being fronted by Axl Rose in his early days upon arriving in Hollywood.

The group recorded several songs in 1983 which have been made public in recent years.

In addition to that rare E.P. of music the band performed live at popular music venues like the “Troubadour” and “Gazzarri’s” during their heyday.

Lawrence himself had talked in depth with Metal Sludge back in the fall of 2014.

The guitarist went into great detail and had some amazing memories about Rose when interviewed by a junior high classmate from years gone by. Oddly that classmate was Metal Sludge’s very own Gerry Gittelson.

In one of his interviews with Gittelson Lawrence talked candidly about running into his old bandmate in Santa Monica while shopping.

In a related erie twist, Lawrence’s long time best friend and lawyer Joshua Solomon took his own life in February 2014.

Solomon was responsible for helping Rapidfire come to life after allegedly battling with Rose’s legal teams for years trying to release the rare recordings.

Once the music actually made it onto digital services the reviews were stellar.

Fans globally gave the 5 song E.P. 5 stars across the board. Rose’s vocals are as powerful as ever with his trademark lower register growl and razor blade rasp evident in these early gems.

Lawrence was 51 at the time of his passing according to close friends.

All of the Rapidfire songs are on Youtube. Kevin fought for years to get these released to GNR fans so why not give them another listen tonight in his memory

Source: Metal Sludge