Cinderella Guitarist Jeff LaBar Has Died at Age 58
Cinderella guitarist Jeff LaBar has died at the age of 58 on July 14.
News of the rocker’s death was first shared by his son, Sebastian, who posted a series of photos of his father from across the years on social media (seen at the bottom of the page), alongside a brief but warm remembrance.
“So i just got the call… @jefflabar, my father, my hero, my idol, passed away today. I’m currently at a loss for words. I love you pop! [heart emoji] If you could, please share pictures or video of all the fun times we all had with my dad. It would be greatly appreciated,” wrote Sebastian.
At the time of publication, no cause of death had been listed.
LaBar, who joined Cinderella in 1985 and played on each of their four full length albums, was also remembered by his bandmates, Tom Keifer, Eric Brittingham and Fred Coury in an official statement made through a press release.
“Heavy hearts cannot begin to describe the feeling of losing our brother Jeff. The bond between us over decades of creating music and touring the world is something that we as a band uniquely shared. Those memories with Jeff will be forever alive in our hearts. It’s unimaginable that one of our band brothers has left us. We’re sending his wife Debinique, his son Sebastian, family, and friends our deepest condolences,” said the band’s surviving members.
The statement continued, “Jeff’s memory and music will be with us forever. We all… band, family and management appreciate the overwhelming outpouring of love. Rest in peace, Jeff.”
Cinderella have not played a show since 2014 and they only played five gigs since 2012 — one at the 2013 edition of the Monsters of Rock Cruise, three sets the following year on the same festival cruise and a one-off performance at the Sioux Falls RibFest in 2014.
Notable tensions within the band gave pause to continuing and, instead, singer and guitarist Keifer has focused on his solo career since.
In a 2016 interview on the “Another FN Podcast With Izzy Presley,” LaBar took the brunt of the blame for Cinderella’s inactivity, chalking it up to his struggles with alcohol.
LaBar stated on the podcast, “I can only speculate, but I believe it’s all my fault. It’s no secret that I’ve had a drinking problem. And it showed its ugly face on one of those [cruises that Cinderella played]. I guess that’s what caused a rift… When I fell out on one of those cruise ships in front of everybody — like, basically O.D.’d — that’s when the band, and mostly Tom, took notice and was, like, ‘What the fuck?'”
“No, I’m not,” replied LaBar when asked if he was sober at the time of the interview for the podcast episode.
“Which is the problem. Which is probably the problem,” he acknowledged and explained, “Like I said, I can only speculate, because I don’t talk to the other guys anymore. I talk to Fred every now and then. Eric lives 20 minutes from me. We haven’t talked lately, but Eric and I have been the most consistent of all my bandmates throughout the past 32 years. It’s just Tom and I that don’t talk anymore. And I can only speculate that he’s very disappointed and doesn’t wanna see me die. He doesn’t wanna witness me dying.”
Keifer had previously suggested that Cinderella would not engage in any activity until decades-long internal issues had been resolved.
Loudwire extends our condolences to the LaBar family, Jeff’s bandmates, friends and all who knew him. Rest in peace.