Ian Brown paid touching tribute to his friend and former The Stone Roses bandmate, Pete Garner, following his death aged 61.
The musician was the band’s original bassist until he left in 1987 and was eventually replaced by Mani.
Following the sad announcement, his former bandmate Ian Brown led the tributes as he claimed “few loved music as much” as Pete. His cause of death has not been confirmed.
Responding to a user on X, formerly Twitter, about Garner’s death, Brown wrote: “Yeah very sad. We were young punk rockers when we met in 77.
“The nite before Petes maths and geography O levels we went to see the Clash. Always made me chuckle he did that and of course he made the right decision! X (sic)”.
He added in later post: “Few loved music as much as Pete he been bathing in music since [Sex Pistols'] Anarchy in the Uk came out that i can vouch for and Pete was off the scale nice, an old skool nice that ya just dont get no more!
Yeah very sad. We were young punk rockers when we met in 77. The nite before Petes maths and geography O levels we went to see the Clash. Always made me chuckle he did that and of course he made the right decision! X
— Ian Brown (@ianbrown) November 3, 2023
“He got that from his lovely Mum! GOD Bless Pete RiP X (sic)”.
Garner had been a childhood friend of Brown and fellow guitarist John Squire, joining the legendary rock group in 1983.
He appeared on the band's original debut singles, So Young and Tell Me, in 1987 as well as Sally Cinnamon which would be his final song with the Manchester band.
The musician reportedly left the group shortly after it was released, claiming he wasn’t "good enough" for them and left music behind to take up a job at HMV.
Garner’s space in the Stone Roses was filled by Rob Hampson, who he personally taught all songs.
However, Hampson only performed for a short time with the Northern group before Mani became the permanent bassist and the group shot to stardom with their debut self-titled album that same year.
