Arthur Lee (1945-2006)

Forever Changes was not a success; the dramatic, flamenco-style single "Alone Again Or" barely cracked the Top 100. Much of the failure was attributed to Lee's refusal to tour. Holtzman, in his Elektra memoir, speculated that the singer wanted to be near his drug connections. (Lee had already declined to perfom at the Monterey Pop Festival.) Shortly after the release, Lee parted with his band mates, beginning a long cycle of rotating band members. Four Sail was Love's last record for Elektra; subsequent releases found Lee flailing to retrieve the sound of his original band. In England, he cut lengthy jams with Hendrix, but the tapes were bogged down in legal disputes. One track from those sessions, "The Everlasting First," eventually appeared on Love's "False Start" album.

Meanwhile, past band mates were struggling. Forssi and Echols were rumored to have fallen into lives of petty crime, holding up a series of coffee shops, for which they were dubbed the "Doughnut Bandits." Maclean suffered a nervous breakdown and became a Christian, occasionally performing with his half-sister, Maria McKee of Lone Justice. He died of a heart attack on Christmas Day 1999.

After dropping out of sight in the 1980s, Lee attempted several comebacks, beginning with the release of "Arthur Lee and Love" on the French New Rose label in 1992. A conviction for unlawful possession of a firearm resulted in a prison sentence; upon his release in 2001, he toured accompanied by the Los Angeles group Baby Lemonade.

Despite Love's enduring status as a cult act with little commercial success, the band cast a long shadow. Syd Barrett called Love a defining inspiration for early Pink Floyd. Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant specifically mentioned Lee at the 1995 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. A film company in London is currently finishing work on a documentary entitled Love Story.

And it was Arthur Lee's headling rush into a fantastic variety of music that defined the group. "I'd love to hear Johnny Mathis do 'Foxey Lady,'" he once said, "or Howlin' Wolf do 'Turn! Turn! Turn!'"