Michael Ward, Former Guitarist for The Wallflowers, Dead at 57

Michael Ward, the guitarist for The Wallflowers from 1995 to 2001, has died. According to online sources, he was 57.

His sister Tracy Ward Hartfiel announced his death on her Facebook page Tuesday, April 2, writing, “Michael Ward has left this plane. It’s with tremendous sorrow that I let you know complications from diabetes took his life last night. Obviously, we are all in shock and overcome with grief. This is all I can handle writing right now. Please tell the people you love just how much they mean to you.”

On Wednesday, April 4, the band posted a tribute to the rocker on its official Facebook page.

“With love and gratitude the Wallflowers say farewell to the great and singular Michael Ward,” the post read. “Michael’s role and talents will forever remain a crucial part of the band’s history. His contributions to music began before his time with the Wallflowers and continued long after his time with the band. Listening to Thin Lizzy on a sorrowful day. Rest now Mike. Much love to his family and his two children.”

Photos of guitar picks, Ward in his younger days, the cover for their hit “6th Avenue Heartache” and a shot of Ward with lead singer Jakob Dylan accompanied the tribute.

Ward played on the band’s two most successful albums: 1996’s Bringing Down the Horse and 2000’s Breach.

Per MTV, Ward departed the group in 2001, though he wanted to quit earlier due to a falling out with Dylan.

“About a year ago I quit the band and then was persuaded into staying by our manager, Andy Slater,” Ward said in the 2001 interview. “So I stayed through the whole Breach tour.”

“For me, what music is all about is sitting down and creating songs from scratch,” he told MTV at the time. “That’s my life, and it’s not really about adding guitar parts to someone else’s music. That’s not really satisfying for me. For a long time we were writing together, and then that stopped, and that made me pretty unhappy.”

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Over time, Ward and Dylan seemingly made up, with Ward even wishing Dylan a happy birthday on Instagram in December.

Ward was slated to perform in Las Vegas on Friday, April 5, per his Instagram.

Ward also was a founding member of the band School of Fish.