Maggie Roche, one of the trio of sisters who made up The Roches, died on Saturday after a long battle with cancer at the age of 65.
Her sister, Suzzy, made the announcement:
Friends, my dear, beautiful sister Maggie passed away today after a long struggle with cancer. She was a private person, too sensitive and shy for this world, but brimming with life, love, and talent. I want to let you know how grateful she was to everyone who listened and understood her through her music and her songs. After decades of singing, writing, travelling and performing together, we spent the last month and a half helping each other through her final journey, now I have to let her go. I’m heartbroken. I adored her. She was smart, wickedly funny, and authentic ~ not a false bone in her body ~ a brilliant songwriter, with a distinctly unique perspective, all heart and soul. It’ll be hard for me to carry on without her.
Born and raised in Park Ridge, NJ, the group started when sisters Maggie and Terre quit school to perform with Maggie writing most of the songs. Their career was launched when Paul Simon had them as a guest on his album There Goes Rhymin’ Simon which led to their debut album, and the only one as a duo, 1975’s Seductive Reasoning.
Suzzy soon joined the group and they began playing regularly at Gerde’s Folk City in Greenwich Village where they met a number of artists with whom they would write. The 1979 album, The Roches, was produced by Robert Fripp and included Maggie’s song The Married Man.
Between their debut in 1979 and the beginning of their hiatus in 1997, the trio released ten albums, none of which were big sellers even though they gained a very dedicated following. They would only record one more album with all three sisters, 2007’s Moonswept and, after the supporting tour, they retired from the road.
In the interim, Maggie and Terre released a second duo album, I Gave My Love to Kerry (2004) and Maggie and Suzzy released two, Zero Church (2002) and Why the Long Face (2004). Suzzy and Terre also released solo sets while Suzzy also recorded two albums with her daughter, Lucy Wainwright Roach.
