A rock and country legend died Friday, May 16, at the age of 79.
Tony Haselden, the lead guitarist and vocalist for the1970s/1980s rock band LeRoux, and later a prolific songwriter in Nashville, died on Friday, according to a post from the Louisiana Jukebox Cafe. No cause of death was listed.
The site says he was a South Carolina native, but later split his time between Louisiana and Nashville, Tennessee.
He joined the rock band LeRoux in 1978. That band went on to have several hits, including “Take a Ride on a Riverboat,” “New Orleans Ladies,” “Addicted,” “Carrie’s Gone,” and their highest-charting hit “Nobody Said It Was Easy (Lookin’ for the Lights). According to the band’s website, over the years, LeRoux performed with huge acts like The Allman Brothers, Journey, Kansas, Heart, The Doobie Brothers, Charlie Daniels, Foreigner, Marshall Tucker, The Outlaws, ZZ Top and more.
After the band split up in the late 1980s (though they did reunite here and there over the years), Haselden moved to Nashville and was a songwriter for some of country’s biggest hits, including It Ain’t Nothin'” for the late Keith Whitley, “That’s My Story (And I’m Stickin’ To It)” for Collin Raye, “Mama Knows” for the group Shenandoah, “You Know Me Better Than That” by George Strait, “Love Needs a Holiday” by Reba McEntire, “That’s Me” by Martina McBride and “What Made You Say That” by Shania Twain.
Haselden was also a member of two Halls of Fame — the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame and the LMHOF Songwriters’ Association Hall of Fame. He was inducted in 2010, according to the LeRoux website.
In the Facebook comments on the post about his passing, several fans say he was the most caring person.
“Tony was always willing to stop and listen and tell stories. Good guy all around,” wrote one fan.
Another added, “On my list of the nicest people I’ve ever met, Tony Haseldon was very close to the top. RIP Tony.”
“I’ve known Tony since the mid-to-late 70s when he would come to Alexandria’s Professional Music to jam with owner Charlie Humphreys (I worked & taught there.). I got to play with him then and ran into him occasionally in Nashville and Louisiana when he was with Leroux. He was a wonderful songwriter, a great guitarist and vocalist, and just a terrific human being. Always kind, always remembered my name and always had a good word. Bless his family and the Leroux family at this time,” wrote one of his colleagues.
