Robert “Bob” James, who replaced Sammy Hagar as a singer at Montrose and led the band on two of their albums, has died at the age of 68, from complications of a stomach ulcer as confirmed by his publicist.
He joined Ronnie Montrose’s group in 1975, and was heard on the albums “Warner Bros. Presents … Montrose” of that same year, and on “Jump On It” the following year. Despite receiving good reviews, neither of the hard band’s two LPs did commercially well, prompting Montrose to disband the band after releasing the instrumental LP “Open Fire” in 1978.
Then James joined Magnet, a Peter Frampton-sponsored project that featured former Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley. The group published the album “Worldwide Attraction” in 1979 but it did not finish curdling.
Later, he formed Private Army with future Quiet Riot members Rudy Sarzo and Frankie Banali and wrote the song “Reach Out” with his later group, USSA, which was recorded by Cheap Trick.