Michael Ward, a former guitarist with School of Fish and The Wallflowers, has passed away at the age of 57 due to complications related to diabetes. Ward’s sister, Tracy Ward Hartfiel, announced the tragedy on Facebook on Tuesday, April 2nd, stating that the family was “all in shock and overcome with grief.” The news was also shared by The Wallflowers on Facebook on Wednesday, April 3rd.
The band posted a tribute to Ward: “With love and gratitude, the Wallflowers say farewell to the great and singular Michael Ward. Michael’s role and talents will forever remain a crucial part of the band’s history. His contributions to music began before his time with the Wallflowers and continued long after his time with the band. Listening to Thin Lizzy on a sorrowful day. Rest now Mike. Much love to his family and his two children.”
Ward, who was born in Minneapolis in 1967, co-founded School of Fish in 1989 with Josh Clayton-Felt and was later joined by Michael Petrak and David Lipson. After signing with Capitol in 1990, the band released their self-titled debut in 1991 and followed it up with ‘Human Cannonball’ in 1993. The group broke up in 1993.
In 1995, Ward joined The Wallflowers and contributed to 1996’s “Bringing Down The Horse” and 2000’s “Breach.” The band won two Grammy awards in 1998 for the song “One Headlight” from “Bringing Down The Horse.” Ward left the band in 2001, stating that “what music is all about is sitting down and creating songs from scratch. That’s my life, and it’s not really about adding guitar parts to someone else’s music.”
After leaving The Wallflowers, Ward continued to perform with other well-known groups such as Ben Harper’s band, the Innocent Criminals, as well as Gogol Bordello. Over the course of his career, Ward contributed to more than 50 studio albums, including Gavin DeGraw’s Chariot, which featured the One Tree Hill theme song, “I Don’t Wanna Be
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