Variety reports that John Warrn Geils Jr., the eponymous guitarist of The J. Geils Band, has died. Best known for songs like “Centerfold,” “Freeze Frame,” and “Love Stinks,” Geils defied the label of a one-hit wonder with a hustling musical career that spanned decades of non-stop touring and recording, and a methodical approach to blending blues rhythms with New Wave sounds.
Originally founded by Geils—who was still in college, studying mechanical engineering—as a jazz and blues trio in 1964, The J. Geils Band added new performers throughout the 1960s, finally solidifying when organist Seth Justman joined in 1970. The Band spent the next ten years performing and recording more-or-less non-stop, slowly building radio play, a fanbase, and connections with groups like The Rolling Stones and Peter Frampton, who they played arenas with in the late ’70s. The band had a major hit in 1980 with “Love Stinks”—a favorite of film soundtracks for more than 30 years—before briefly launching into the stratosphere with “Centerfold,” off of 1982’s Freeze Frame.