Alan Merrill – who co-wrote the song I Love Rock and Roll that became a signature hit for fellow rocker Joan Jett – has died of complications from the coronavirus at the age of 69.
His daughter, Laura Merrill, said on her Facebook account that he died in New York on Sunday morning.
“I was given 2 minutes to say my goodbyes before I was rushed out. He seemed peaceful and as I left there was still a glimmer of hope that he wouldn’t be a ticker on the right hand side of the CNN/Fox news screen,” she wrote.
“I walked 50 blocks home still with hope in my heart. The city that I knew was empty. I felt I was the only person here and perhaps in many ways I was. By the time I got in the doors to my apartment I received the news that he was gone.”
Laura said her father had been in good spirits recently. She went to one of his shows about two weeks ago and took a photograph of him for his new album.
“He played down the ‘cold’ he thought he had,” she said. “I’ve made a million jokes about the ‘Rona’ and how it’ll ‘getcha’ … boy do I feel stupid.”
Jett scored a major hit with I Love Rock and Roll in 1982. Merrill wrote the song for his band, The Arrows, and recorded it in 1975.
On her Twitter account, Jett wrote: “I’ve just learned of the awful news that Alan Merrill has passed. My thoughts and love go to his family, friends and music community as a whole.
“I can still remember watching The Arrows on TV in London and being blown away by the song that screamed hit to me. With deep gratitude and sadness, wishing him a safe journey to the other side.”
Merrill was born in New York and grew up in Switzerland, Los Angeles and Japan before starting his music career in New York.
Additional reporting by Press Association
