A friend of Bob Welch’s believes that the late Fleetwood Mac guitarist took his own life after unsuccessfully recovering from spinal surgery, and no longer wanting to be a burden to his dear wife.

Family friend Bart Herbison, who is the executive director of the National Songwriters Association, told London’s Daily Mail, “It had become apparent to Bob that he was not going to recover, that he was going to become an invalid.”

Apparently Welch had seen this very thing happen before to his own family. For years, Welch’s mother took care of his ailing father and he did not want to see history repeat itself.

Herbison added, “He had seen his father become an invalid and watched his mother care for him for many years. In the letter he left, he told (his wife) Wendy, ‘I’m not going to do this to you.’”

Former bandmates Stevie Nicks and Mick Fleetwood reacted to the news recently. As you can imagine, they were shocked just like everyone else was.

Welch was a member of the Grammy-nominated band from 1971 to 1974. He was 66 years old.

Andrew Celani – WZLX.com