The music world is mourning the loss of Larry Tamblyn, who has sadly died at 82.
Sharing the news, Tamblyn's nephew Dennis reflected on cherished memories via social media. "A few years ago, The Standells played at Hotel Congress here in Tucson and Larry stayed with me. It was so great to hang out with him and catch up. He was still making music well into his later years. You will be missed, Uncle Larry," he penned in a heartfelt statement.
While the cause of Larry's death remains undisclosed, heartfelt tributes have been flooding social media. Among them, rock band The Striped Bananas took to their X account to write, "Very saddened to hear about the passing of Larry Tamblyn of The Standells. Fabulous keyboardist and sometimes lead singer. We're glad to have met him a couple of years ago. Rock on Larry, thank you for the music."
Jack Wolverton, a comic book writer, shared his personal sense of loss, saying, "Sad news I'm afraid. My friend and neighbor, Larry Tamblyn, passed away this morning. He was the founding member of The Standells. It was totally surreal that a member of the 60s garage punk band my 80s garage band used to cover, moved just around the corner from me in rural GA."
One fan added, "I can't think of a more iconic garage rock anthem than The Standells' "Dirty Water." Very sad to hear of Larry Tamblyn's passing today. Lucky to have seen the Standells in 2000 at The Las Vegas Grind. Hearfelt condolences to his family and friends."
Someone else posted on X, "I don't if anyone else is a 60's garage band fan, but one of the founding members of the Standells, Larry Tamblyn, died a couple of days ago, I was facebook friends with him and Larry was a great guy, I knew that he had been sick, but I didn't realize how sick he was (he was still posting a week ago)."
Larry came from a family well-acquainted with the spotlight; his brother, Russ Tamblyn, made waves in Hollywood with roles in hits like Django Unchained and Drive, while his niece, Amber Tamblyn, starred in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Two and a Half Men.
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In 1962, Larry formed The Standells, who went on to create such as Dearest, Patty Ann, This Is The Night, My Bride To Be, and Destiny. The pinnacle of their fame came with the 1966 classic Dirty Water, which later became an emblematic anthem for Boston's sports teams.
The Standells were drawn to The Beatles' style and Larry once recalled to Classic Bands, "We were one of the first groups to have long hair in 1963. We had seen photos of The Beatles in London before they became big here (America) and we grew our hair out."
He continued, reminiscing the rise of Beatlemania, "When they started to break here, we had the long hair and we were doing the same schtick at this club called The Peppermint West. They had a big sign out in front saying Beatlemania."
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