Francis Buchholz, bassist for the Scorpions on massive hits like “Rock You Like a Hurricane” and “Wind of Change,” died Thursday after a private battle with cancer, according to a social media post. “He departed this world peacefully, surrounded by love,” his family wrote in the announcement. He was 71.
“Throughout his fight with cancer, we stayed by his side, facing every challenge as a family — exactly the way he taught us,” Buchholz’s family wrote. “To his fans around the world — we want to thank you for your unwavering loyalty, your love, and the belief you placed in him throughout his incredible journey. You gave him the world, and he gave you his music in return. Though the strings have gone silent, his soul remains in every note he played and in every life he touched.”
Buchholz’s sledgehammering low end supported Scorpions’ biggest hit, 1984’s “Rock You Like a Hurricane,” providing unusual restraint in a genre known for excess. His tasteful rumbling similarly complemented the hard-rocking hits “No One Like You,” “Big City Nights,” and “Blackout.” Even though there’s a full quintet on “The Zoo,” it’s Buchholz’s bass that propels the song’s slow-burning throb. Similarly, his understated playing allowed a ballad like “Wind of Change” to soar to Number One on charts around the world.
Scorpions had already been going for years with another bassist when Buchholz, who was born Jan. 19, 1950 in Hanover, West Germany, joined. He made his recorded debut with the group on their second LP, Fly to the Rainbow (1974). The group struggled to attract a large audience throughout much of the Seventies but finally hit on the right formula (and getting better international distribution for their records) in 1979 with the release of Lovedrive, the band’s first LP with lead guitarist Matthias Jabs. Buchholz had studied lighting and engineering at Hannover University and had cofounded a company, Rock Sound, a year earlier, where he provided backlines to bands, including the Scorpions.
The combo of the group’s power chord–mad riffs, frontman Klaus Meine’s cutting vocals and ear-turning accent, and, of course, Buchholz’s rock-solid rhythms, positioned them for heavy-metal dominance in the rock-hungry Eighties. Each album they released did better than the last in the U.S.: 1982’s now-platinum Blackout peaked at Number 10, 1984’s triple-platinum Love at First Sting bowed at Number 6, and 1988’s platinum Savage Amusement reached Number 5. That year, the group became the first metal outfit to tour the Soviet Union. They returned in 1989 to play the Moscow Music Peace Festival on the same stage as Bon Jovi and Ozzy Osbourne.
Improbably, Crazy World, the band’s final album with Buchholz that has since been certified double platinum thanks to the international success of “Wind of Change,” reached only Number 21 in 1990. The song, which was also released in Russian, led to a meeting with then-premier Mikhael Gorbechev.
In 1992, Buchholz, who handled the band’s business matters, exited the group. He explained in a 2008 interview that his split was a mutual decision following a turnover of management, lawyers, and tax company. Unhappy with the situation, he chose to step away and focus on his family.
The bassist returned to music in the mid-2000s, touring with former Scorpions guitarist Uli Jon Roth and eventually joining a band called Dreamtide that released an album, Dream and Deliver, in 2008. He later realigned with another former Scorpions guitarist, Michael Schenker, to tour and record with his group Michael Schenker’s Temple of Rock.
In the 2008 interview, Buchholz expressed pride in his legacy, helping to bring a band from obscurity to international stages. He recalled with pride the band’s 1983 performance at the US Festival decades later. “I listened to my bass lines and discovered, yes, I had played the bass lines exactly the way they should have been played,” he said. “Watching this live recording, I felt the positive power which came across those days, the unity we were able to create live onstage. Seeing that on TV was a proud moment for me after all these years.”
