The Eye

Grammy-award winning guitarist and singer Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown has died in Texas at the age of 81.

He died, surrounded by his family in Orange, Texas.

He had been battling heart problems and lung cancer, and he recently lost his home in Slidell, Louisiana to Hurricane Katrina.

“I’m sure he was heartbroken, both literally and figuratively,” said his booking agent Rick Cady.

“He evacuated successfully before the hurricane hit, but I’m sure it weighed heavily on his soul.”

He had recorded with Eric Clapton and Frank Zappa amongst others, in a career that lasted over fifty years.

He spent most of his life in Texas, but was born in Louisiana. He cited his fiddle playing railroad working father as his main musical inspiration, saying if he could play his guitar like his father could play the fiddle, he knew he was doing right.