Joey Molland, a guitarist with 1970s Welsh pop-rock band Badfinger, dies at 77

EDINA, Minn. (AP) - Joey Molland, a guitarist with the Welsh pop-rock band Badfinger that was known for such 1970s hits as "No Matter What" and "Day After Day," has died at age 77.

Molland was the last to join and had been the last survivor from the most famous lineup of the group, which recorded for the Beatles ' Apple label. His death was confirmed Tuesday by Sam Sheffield-West, the funeral director at Washburn-McReavy Funeral Chapels in Edina, Minnesota. Molland had lived in the state for decades. Additional details about his death weren’t immediately available.

Badfinger was a quartet that also included singer-guitarist Pete Ham, bassist Tom Evans and drummer Tom Gibbins. They were among the first acts signed to Apple after the Beatles launched it in 1968 and would remain closely associated with the Beatles - not always to Badfinger’s liking - throughout their brief years of success. Molland even grew up near Liverpool’s Penny Lane, immortalized in the Beatles song of the same name.

Badfinger’s breakout hit, "Come and Get It," was written and produced by Paul McCartney, and another top 10 single, "Day After Day," was produced by George Harrison and featured Harrison’s slide guitar. "No Matter What" was produced by Apple official/Beatles assistant Mal Evans, and another Badfinger song, "Without You," became a hit for Beatles friend Harry Nilsson. Molland and his bandmates would also appear at Harrison’s 1971 benefit concert for Bangladesh and provide backing on two Beatles member’s solo albums: Harrison’s "All Things Must Pass" and John Lennon’s "Imagine."

Critics could not stop likening Badfinger’s catchy melodies, layered harmonies and tight arrangements to their benefactors: "It's as if John, Paul, George, and Ringo had been reincarnated as Joey, Pete, Tom, and Mike of Badfinger,” Rolling Stone wrote of them in 1970. Even the band’s name originated from the Beatles. Badfinger had called itself the Ivies in the years preceding their joining Apple, but, at the suggestion of Apple official/Beatles assistant Neil Aspinall, agreed to change it to Badfinger. (The working title of the Beatles’ "With a Little Help from My Friends" was "Bad Finger Boogie").

Their time on top ended after 1972. Amid cutbacks at Apple and allegations of financial mismanagement, Badfinger left for Warner Bros., faded commercially and sustained a tragic loss when Ham took his life in 1975. After initially breaking up, the remaining members periodically reunited but never approached their early success.

Evans took his own life in 1983 and Gibbins died of a brain aneurysm in 2005.

Molland remained active well after Badfinger’s prime, touring until his health began to fail last year and releasing such solo albums as "This Way Up" "After the Pearl" and "Be True To Yourself."

"I was raised to go to work - to get up in the morning and go to work," he told The Associated Press in 2001.