Dan McCafferty, Founding Frontman of Nazareth, Dies at 76

Dan McCafferty, the crooning hard rocker who founded and helped define the Scottish band Nazareth with his instantly recognizable vocal stylings, died Tuesday. He was 76. His death was announced by longtime bandmate Pete Agnew. “This is the saddest announcement I have ever had to make,” the bassist wrote on Facebook. “Maryann and the family have lost a wonderful loving husband and father, I have lost my best friend and the world has lost one of the greatest singers who ever lived. Too upset to say anything more at this time.” In 1968, the Dunfermline-born McCafferty joined forces with Agnew, drummer Darrell Sweet, and the late guitarist Manny Charlton to form Nazareth. They put out their most well-known album, Hair of the Dog, in 1974—as Charlton was to call it, “a big, fat, greasy kahuna burger of an album that went on to become the only gold-selling eight-track in history.” McCafferty spent 45 years performing with Nazareth, eventually stepping back in 2013 over chronic health issues that occasionally left him unable to breathe. “If you can’t do the job you shouldn't be there—Nazareth’s too big for that,” he once remarked.