In 1968, four musicians in Dunfermline, Scotland, formed the band that would become Nazareth. Nearly six decades later, only one of those four founding members is still alive.
Bassist Pete Agnew celebrates his 80th birthday on Monday, Sept. 14. Agnew founded Nazareth alongside singer Dan McCafferty, guitarist Manny Charlton and drummer Darrell Sweet, and remarkably, he remains a member of the band today.
Agnew’s lengthy career includes one particularly chilling brush with rock history.
In October 1977, Nazareth and Lynyrd Skynyrd were touring the United States together when Nazareth declined an invitation to travel with the Southern rock band from Greenville, S.C., to its next concert in Baton Rouge, La.
The plane crashed on Oct. 20, killing Lynyrd Skynyrd singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, backup singer Cassie Gaines, road manager Dean Kilpatrick and pilots Walter McCreary and William Gray.
Agnew later joked about the aircraft’s appearance, telling Classic Rock, “We’d seen their plane, which looked like Gaffa Tape Airlines.”
Nazareth had already become international rock stars by then. Their 1975 album Hair of the Dog featured the title track and their recording of “Love Hurts,” which became the band’s only U.S. Top 10 hit and reached No. 1 in several countries.
Agnew eventually became Nazareth’s last surviving original member following the deaths of Sweet in 1999 and Charlton and McCafferty in 2022.
He is also the only founding member still performing with the group. When Classic Rock asked Agnew in 2024 whether he would ever retire, his answer was emphatic.
“I can’t even think about not being in the band,” he said, adding that after about five weeks away from the road, “I need a gig.”
Agnew also reflected on how much the band’s long history means to him, particularly as its last surviving founder. He admitted there are nights when he realizes he’s not only the last original member still performing with Nazareth, but “the last one of us left alive.”
At 80, Agnew is still carrying on the band he helped start 58 years ago.
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