Perry Bamonte, guitarist and keyboardist of the English rock band The Cure, has died at the age of 65. The formation made the announcement on its website on Friday with “immense sadness”, saying the musician passed away “after a short illness at home over Christmas”. TASR informs about it according to reports from the BBC News station, Variety magazine and the AFP news agency.
“Quiet, intense, intuitive, persistent and immensely creative. Teddy was a warm and important part of The Cure’s history. He will be greatly missed.” it is further stated in the statement of his colleagues who used his nickname in the band.
Perry Archangelo Bamonte was born on September 3, 1960 in London. His younger brother Daryl worked as a tour manager for The Cure and Depeche Mode, and through this contact Perry joined the team that accompanied The Cure on tour in 1984. He later became a guitar technician and personal assistant to bandleader Robert Smith. After the departure of keyboardist Roger O’Donnell in 1990, he took his place as a regular member of the group.
As a guitar, keyboard and bass player, Bamonte contributed to the studio albums Wish (1992), Wild Mood Swings (1996), Bloodflowers (2000) and The Cure (2004), as well as the live albums Paris (1993), Show (1993) and Songs of a Live World: Troxy London MMXIV (2024). As a member of The Cure, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019.
He played over 400 shows with the band over 14 years. Subsequently, he became a member of the English rock supergroup Love Amongst Ruin. He returned to The Cure in 2022 without a media announcement and played with them on the Shows of a Lost World world tour, which lasted from October 2022 to December 2023 and included 88 concerts.
According to Variety, Bamonte was supposed to perform with the group at 30 shows in Europe in 2026, including the Slovak festival Pohoda. The Cure will be one of the stars at the Trenčín airport, performing on an extra festival day on Wednesday, July 8.
