in a statement<\/a>, \u201cWe have just received the very sad news that our longtime friend and bass player, Francis Buchholz, has passed away. His legacy with the band will live on forever, and we will always remember the many good times we have shared together.\u201d<\/p>\nBorn in Hanover, West Germany, in 1954, Buchholz first played in the rock band Dawn Road, later joining Scorpions on 1974\u2019s \u201cFly to the Rainbow\u201d and cementing its most classic lineup. He played on the band\u2019s era-defining albums, including 1979\u2019s \u201cLovedrive,\u201d 1982\u2019s \u201cBlackout,\u201d 1984\u2019s \u201cLove at First Sting\u201d and the live albums \u201cTokyo Tapes\u201d and \u201cWorld Wide Live.\u201d <\/p>\n
Speaking about Scorpions\u2019 influence at the end of the Cold War, he told an interviewer<\/a>, \u201cWe still had the Iron Curtain in Europe when I was a boy. Living in Germany at this time there was always this great threat of a third World War between Russia and America. I was always afraid of the Russians coming over the border in Eastern Germany. … Then, playing in Moscow at the Peace Festival back in the \u201890s, we were invited to the Kremlin by Mr. [Mikahil] Gorbachev, Russia\u2019s President at that time, and that was one of those great moments \u2014 to think we had achieved something like this just from doing what we love to do.\u201d<\/p>\nHe left the group after 1990\u2019s \u201cCrazy World,\u201d later touring with former Scorpions bandmate Uli Jon Roth and Michael Schenker\u2019s Temple of Rock.<\/p>\n
Buchholz is survived by wife wife, Hella, and three children.<\/p>\n