Tony Thorpe, the Tony Thorpe 1970s rock guitarist with The Rubettes, has died aged 80. The loss lands on a musician tied to a band that moved from a 1974 launch into chart business fast, then kept his name in the credits long after he stepped away.
Thorpe was part of The Rubettes when their debut single, Sugar Baby Love, topped the charts in the UK and reached the top 40 in the United States. The band went on to score nine top 40 singles in the UK, which kept Thorpe attached to a catalogue that still defines the group’s commercial peak.
1974 and Sugar Baby Love
Polydor Records formed The Rubettes in 1974, and Sugar Baby Love did the immediate heavy lifting. For a guitarist in a band built around one explosive opening hit, that kind of start set the terms of how the public would later remember the group: by the first record, by the chart peak, and by the short list of names attached to it.
Thorpe left The Rubettes in 1979 because of creative differences and never returned. He later released solo material, worked as a session musician on material by Cilla Black, Jimmy Tarbuck, Harry Secombe and Roy Castle, and in the 1980s became a member of The Firm. The sequence matters because it shows a career that did not end with the band’s first run; it shifted into side work, then teaching, then retirement outside the music business.
Alan Williams on Facebook
Alan Williams wrote on Facebook that Thorpe was “Mercifully now at peace.” He added: “Dear Tony, our paths having crossed but fleetingly during which time was conceived wondrous music and often hilariously memorable moments.” Williams also wrote: “Your brilliance with the axe and the pen cannot be denied and remains with us, never forgotten.”
Thorpe’s family said, “It is with great sadness that we officially announce the passing of Anthony John Thorpe.” They described him as “a father to Clay, a husband to Shirle, a friend to many, and a mentor to countless musicians young and old,” and added that “His recently failing health did little to diminish his fierce intellect and sharp sense of humour.”
Burnley and Poulton-le-Fylde
After leaving the music business behind, Thorpe moved to Burnley and later retired in Poulton-le-Fylde. He also taught a music course at Blackburn College, which fits the family’s description of him as a mentor rather than only a former chart guitarist.
What caused his death was not stated in the announcement, and that leaves the family’s timeline as the main public record for now: The Rubettes’ 1974 breakthrough, his 1979 exit, the later session and teaching work, and the final note from the family and Williams. For readers following the band’s history, the key detail is that the chart story has now closed on one of its original players.
