Joan Jett is absolutely devastated over the death of Alan Merrill, who wrote her classic song, “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll.” At 69 years old, Alan died from complications due to coronavirus, and Joan posted a sweet tribute to him on Twitter. “I’ve just learned the awful news that Alan Merrill has passed,” Joan wrote. “My thoughts and love go to his family, friends and the music community as a whole. I can still remember watching the Arrows on TV in London and being blown away by the song that screamed hit to me.”
She concluded, “With deep gratitude and sadness, wishing him a safe journey to the other side.”Alan was the lead singer of the band Arrows in the 70s. In 1975, he and his bandmate wrote and recorded “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll,” which Joan covered and released in the early 1980s. Joan’s version skyrocketed to number one on the charts, where it remained for seven weeks. It has since become an iconic and legendary song.
News of Alan’s death was confirmed by his daughter, Laura Merrill, in a Facebook post on March 29. “The coronavirus took my father this morning,” she wrote. “I was given two minutes to say my goodbyes before I was rushed out. He seemed peaceful and as I left there was still a glimmer of hope that he wouldn’t be a ticker on the right hand side of the CNN/Fox News screen.”
Laura admitted that she still had “hope in her heart” that her father would survive as she walked home, but “by the time [she] got to the doors of [her] apartment, [she] received the news that he was gone.” On the morning of March 30, Laura posted a series of photos with her father, and mourned him once again. “Even at 42, I was always Daddy’s little girl,” she wrote. “Everything I did was to make you proud.”