Rachel DeSantis is a senior writer on the music team at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2019, and her work has previously appeared in Entertainment Weekly and the New York Daily News.
Guitarist Freddie Salem, who was best known for his tenure with the Southern rock band Outlaws, has died. He was 70.
Salem died of complications due to cancer, Outlaws announced in a Facebook post shared on Monday, Sept. 23.
"It's with a heavy heart that we have to tell Outlaws fans about the passing of our former guitarist Freddie Salem. Freddie passed from complications due to cancer and will be remembered for his outgoing personality and passion for music," the band wrote in a statement. "He was an electric performer and beloved musician and he will be missed."
His most recent group, Freddie Salem & Lonewolf, also shared a statement to Facebook, writing, "This morning, the Heavens parted for the arrival of a legend. Rock on high, Freddie Salem. Until we meet again."
Salem first appeared on Outlaws' 1978 album Bring It Back Alive, and he appeared on four more records with the rockers before leaving after the 1982 release of Los Hombres Malo.
"It was just one of those things," he once told the Akron Beacon Journal of his departure. "Musically and career wise, I wanted a little more."
Though Salem was no longer with the group after 1982, he is credited as a songwriter on tracks included on their 1986 album Soldiers of Fortune, and their 1993 live album Hittin' the Road.
Salem was born in Akron, Ohio and grew up in Fairlawn and Copley, according to the Beacon Journal. His father owned a bar, and the bar's jukebox was what first turned Salem on to the world of rock and roll. He began playing guitar professionally at 16, and joined Outlaws in 1977, at age 23.
His solo project, Freddie Salem & the Wildcats, put out the album Cat Dance in 1982, and in the early 1990s, he reportedly opened several live music venues in Akron.
According to his website, he was inducted into the RockGodz Hall of Fame in 2016.
"I am deeply saddened by the passing of Freddie Salem. He was a good friend, bandmate, and Human Being," former Outlaws drummer Monte Yoho wrote on Facebook. "We shared years on the road together. I will remember his [sense] of humor the most. Love you, Freddie! Monte."