Jack Sherman, one-time guitarist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers who played on the band’s debut album, has died at the age of 64, the band confirmed Friday. No cause of death was provided.
“We of the RHCP family want Jack Sherman to want them to sail smoothly to the worlds because he is over,” the band wrote on Instagram. “Jack played on our debut album and also our first tour through the US. He was a unique guy and we thank him for all times good, bad and in between. Peace on the boogie platform. ”
Sherman’s tenure at Red Hot Chili Peppers lasted just over a year, beginning in December 1983, with the guitarist – who replaced founding member Hillel Slovak – on the band’s self-titled debut album. Sherman also wrote much of the material on the band’s second LP. ‘Freaky Styley,’ but when Slovakia rejoined in early 1985 before recording that album, the Chili Peppers – amid growing tensions – parted ways with Sherman.
Soon Sherman was recruited among the army of guitarists for Bob Dylan’s 1986 album Knocked Out Loaded, appearing in credits alongside Tom Petty, Ronnie Wood, David A. Stewart and Mike Campbell.
Sherman would return to the Chili Peppers once again, and provide background vocals on a few tracks from her 1989 album “Mother’s Milk,” including the band’s hit Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground.”
Despite Sherman’s brief but indispensable tenure in the Chili Peppers – Anthony Kiedis’s credit for helping keep the group ‘floating’ to Slovakia’s exit, the singer wrote in his memoir – the guitarist was not among the band members it was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012.
“It’s really painful to see all this party going on and off,” Sherman told Billboard at the time. ‘I’m not claiming to have brought anything else to the band … but that I’ve been a soldier under severe circumstances to try to make the thing, and I think that’s what you’re doing in a job, back. And that’s a shame. I’m getting wrong, and it’s leaking. ‘
Late Gang of Four guitarist Andy Gill, who produced the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ debut album, added from Sherman in 2012, “I think he’s important to the band’s history, a big part of getting the funk guitar in it. . “
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