Marshall Tucker, The Marshall Tucker Band Namesake, Dead at 99

Yasmine Coleman
·2 min read
11

Tucker owned the warehouse where the band used to rehearse.

The Marshall Tucker Band is saying farewell to someone who played a key role in the band's formation.

Marshall Tucker, the namesake of the musical group, died on Jan. 20 at the age of 99. An official cause of death has not yet been released.

"We are saddened to hear of the passing of someone very special to our hearts, for very obvious reasons," the caption of a photo of Tucker posted on the band's Instagram read. "Our band’s namesake, Mr. Marshall Tucker, passed away peacefully yesterday morning at the age of 99. Though he was never a member of our band, we wouldn’t be here today without his historic name."

Though Tucker, who was born Nov. 12, 1913, never belonged to the musical act, the Southern rock group members chose to name themselves after him soon after forming in 1972. At the time, original Marshall Tucker band members Toy Caldwell, Tommy Caldwell, Doug Gray, Jerry Eubanks, George McCorkle, and Paul Riddle rented an old warehouse as rehearsal space where they came across his name.

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In the caption of the social media post, they went on to detail how and why they—pretty randomly—used someone they'd never even met as inspiration.

"In the early days when we were rehearsing in an old warehouse in Spartanburg [South Carolina], we found a keychain inscribed with his name," the band admitted. "We needed a name asap, and the rest is history. Marshall was blind since birth but amazingly could play the heck out of the piano. He always said his talent was simply God-given. He tuned pianos in South Carolina for decades. We are thankful for Mr. Marshall Tucker and the life he lived. Sending blessings to his wife and family."

Decades later, Tucker recalled how his name—unknowingly at the time—stuck with the band in a 2020 interview, confirming they'd been seeing his name on the key tag of the space where he tuned pianos, as he noted, "Our paths crossed and we didn’t even know it."

The band now consists of members Marcus James Henderson, Chris Hicks, Rick Willis, Tony Black, and B.B. Borden, who started commemorating the group's 50th anniversary with a tour set to run through Feb. 25, 2023.

For show tickets and more information, visit The Marshall Tucker Band's official website.