Nicely, this sucks. It’s getting tougher and tougher to should preserve reporting on key metallic figures leaving us for what’s hopefully a greater past. Sadly, this time round, we’ve sadly needed to say goodbye to Marcie Free, the frontwoman of Unruly Youngster and vocalist in King Kobra and Sign. She was 71-years-old.
Free’s demise was confirmed by her Unruly Youngster drummer bandmate Jay Schellen in a Fb submit yesterday, October 24:
“I simply couldn’t discover the phrases final night time once I heard the information that my loving good friend and bandmate in Unruly Youngster Marcie Free has handed. That is heartbreaking.
“Bruce [Gowdy, guitar], Man [Allison, keyboards], Larry [Antonino, bass] all of which I maintain expensive as household are shattered for the lack of our Marcie. We started UC collectively in 1992 and continued our friendship and music making all through these years to this present day.
“Marcie was a marvel to behold. A voice that had no limits and no equal, a very singular expertise and some of the open and exquisite souls I’ve ever recognized.
“I’m gutted and may’t say far more.
“To my bandmates, Bruce, Man, Larry, I really like you guys, like to you too Marcie, you at all times had been an Angel, now you could have your wings.”
Carmine Appice, Free’s bandmate in King Kobra, additionally took to social media to precise his unhappiness:
“I’m so unhappy that my good good friend Marcie/Mark Free handed away. What an ideal individual with the best voice. Now we have been pals since 1982 and we had been nonetheless pals to this present day.
“I don’t understand how she handed. I talked to her simply 2-3 weeks in the past and she or he appeared okay. I’m actually sorry about her passing. The work she did as Mark Free with KING KOBRA was superb.
“We’re doing a brand new KING KOBRA track referred to as ‘Probabilities’, an AIR SUPPLY track. I wish to dedicate it to Marcie as a result of we began KING KOBRA collectively, and that is additionally a part of her legacy.
“RIP my good good friend. I’m so sorry you’re gone.”
Free is iconic within the metallic world for a number of causes, one in every of which was her popping out as transgender again in 1993. As a result of persons are shitty and assume you may’t nonetheless make superior shit or be an extremely gifted and brutal musician, her profession took a extreme hit, with prior business connections and collaborators shunning her as soon as she transitioned.
Below her deadname Mark Free, she did lead vocals on the primary two King Kobra albums Able to Strike and Thrill of a Lifetime. After leaving the band, she launched two information with the band Sign—1989’s Loud & Clear and 2000’s Sign Stay. She then ventured out right into a solo profession, releasing Lengthy Approach from Love below her deadname in 1993, and Tormented as herself in 1996.
Relaxation in energy, queen. Your affect is unmatched.
