Tony Richards, the original W.A.S.P. drummer, has died at 69. Blackie Lawless announced the death on W.A.S.P.'s social media on Wednesday, November 11, saying the entire W.A.S.P. camp was deeply saddened to hear of the passing of its original drummer.
Richards was part of W.A.S.P. from 1982 and played on the band's self-titled debut album, released on August 17, 1984. His death closes the chapter on one of the musicians tied most directly to the group's first recording.
Lawless did not give a cause of death or say when Richards died, leaving the announcement with the kind of gap that can feel larger than the news itself. The statement confirms the loss, but not the circumstances.
Richards had already been out of the band by the start of the tour behind that debut album, when he was reportedly replaced by Steve Riley. Before W.A.S.P., he played in Dante Fox, the band that became Great White.
For fans who knew W.A.S.P. through its earliest era, the news is less about a catalog credit than about the end of a fixed point in the band's history. What remains unanswered is the simplest question: how and when Richards died.
