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Music|Perry Bamonte, Guitarist and Keyboardist in the Cure, Dies at 65
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/26/arts/music/perry-bamonte-dead.html
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A former roadie, Mr. Bamonte joined the band in 1990. He played on five albums and in hundreds of shows and was “a vital part of the Cure story,” the band said.
Dec. 26, 2025Updated 8:35 p.m. ET
Perry Bamonte, a guitarist and keyboard player in the Cure, the seminal post-punk band that brought a dark, gothic sensibility to sparkly, upbeat hits like “Friday I’m in Love,” died on Wednesday at his home in the west of England. He was 65.
The Cure announced Mr. Bamonte’s death in a statement on its website on Friday that said he had died after “a short illness.”
Mr. Bamonte was a roadie and guitar tech for the Cure before he joined the band full time in 1990. The Cure called him “quiet, intense, intuitive, constant and hugely creative,” and a “vital part of the Cure story.”
He played guitar, six-string bass and keyboards on the albums “Wish” (1992), “Wild Mood Swings” (1996), “Bloodflowers” (2000), “Acoustic Hits” (2001) and “the Cure” (2004). “Wish” included “Friday I’m in Love,” which spent 20 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1992 and peaked at No. 18 on Aug. 8 of that year.
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He performed in 400 shows over 14 years during his first stint with the Cure, playing behind Robert Smith, the gloomily romantic frontman, who cut an indelible image with his black clothing, tangly mop of hair and smeared lipstick.
