Denny Laine, a British singer, songwriter and guitarist who performed in an early, pop-oriented version of the Moody Blues and was later Paul McCartney’s longtime sideman in the ex-Beatle’s solo band Wings, died Dec. 5 in Naples, Fla. He was 79.
Mr. Laine’s death comes almost exactly 50 years after the release of McCartney’s acclaimed “Band On the Run” album, on which Mr. Laine played guitar and provided backing vocals.
Mr. Laine was born Brian Frederick Arthur Hines on Oct. 29, 1944, in the Channel Islands and grew up in Tyseley, England. He changed his professional name in his early teens, in part in homage to pop singer Frankie Laine.
In 1964, around the time he turned 20, he joined Ray Thomas and Mike Pinder in forming the Moody Blues and sang lead on the group’s breakthrough hit, “Go Now.”
But the Moody Blues struggled to match their initial success, and by 1967 Mr. Laine had left, replaced by Justin Hayward. The Moody Blues then turned to the ambitious, classically influenced sounds of “Nights in White Satin” and other songs.
Mr. Laine worked as a solo artist and with such groups as the Electric String Band and Ginger Baker’s Air Force before he was brought into Wings by McCartney, whom he had known during his time with the Moody Blues.
Founded in 1971, the year after the Beatles broke up, Wings went through personnel changes over the following decade, with Mr. Laine, McCartney and McCartney’s wife, Linda. the only ones remaining throughout.
The band’s No. 1 singles, most of them written by McCartney, included “My Love,” “Listen to What the Man Said” and the title track to “Band On the Run.” Mr. Laine helped write the million-selling “Mull of Kintyre.”
McCartney disbanded Wings soon after Mr. Laine left in the early 1980s, but Mr. Laine contributed to McCartney’s “Tug of War” and “Pipes of Peace” albums and added backing vocals to “All Those Years Ago,” George Harrison’s tribute to the late John Lennon.
Mr. Laine continued to tour and record in recent years, his albums including “The Blue Musician.”
He was inducted five years ago into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Moody Blues.
