Frankie Banali‘s wife has paid tribute to the late QUIET RIOT drummer, saying “he was and always will be the most incredible person” she has ever met.
Frankie died on August 20 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 68 years old.
Regina Banali, who wrote and directed the QUIET RIOT documentary “Well Now You’re Here, There’s No Way Back: The Quiet Riot Movie”, took to her Facebook page on Saturday (August 29) to say that she was “comforted seeing the outpouring of love and tributes” to her husband and to express her gratitude for being able to “share a life with him” for more than a decade.
She wrote: “The only thing that could have ever separated us…
“I’ve gotten through my first week without him and it has been very difficult. Missing him is so hard. I keep wishing I could wake up and tell him about the bad dream I had. We had a great love and the best life together. When he got sick I loved taking care of him no matter what. He was a tough fighter but cancer was tough on him. Not many people knew that he also suffered from a bad case of tinnitus from years of playing and not protecting his ears. He also suffered from a torn rotator cuff on his right shoulder that needed surgery in 2010 but he had just gotten the band back together and didn’t want to take a year off to recover from surgery. He played through it and over time it went well past the point of surgical options. Doctors could not understand how he was still able to play. He didn’t want people to know about it but he suffered from that a lot. It is a relief to know that at least he is no longer in any pain or sickness.
“He was and always will be the most incredible person I have ever met. People loved him everywhere he went. You couldn’t not love him if you were in his presence and under his charm. He loved so hard. His love for me was enough to last me for a lifetime. Every step forward, every day I live I will have his love with me. My purpose was building a life with him. Then it became taking care of him. Now and for the rest of my life my purpose is to be a steward of his legacy, his life’s work, and to care for his daughter and the people and things he loved and cared for.
“I have been comforted seeing the outpouring of love and tributes to him and I’m blown away that he was trending on twitter. There are so many people coming forward to speak about him and say how he touched them in some way. I was the lucky one that got to share a life with him and have that life force encompass my world for as long as I had him. I am so grateful for that.
“Thank you Frankie. That was the best 11 years and 9 days ever.
“#fuckcancer #FrankieBanali #RIPFrankie”
Frankie was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer on April 17, 2019 and given six months to live. He put up an inspiringly brave and courageous 16-month battle to the end and continued playing live as long as he could. Standard chemotherapy stopped working and a series of strokes made the continuation on a clinical trial impossible. He ultimately lost the fight at 7:18 p.m. on August 20 in Los Angeles surrounded by his wife and daughter.
Banali was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer after going to the emergency room for shortness of breath, leg pain and loss of energy. A scan of his lungs caught an image of his liver, which is where the first spots were seen. Then came the discovery of a tumor on his pancreas.
He had been in treatment since the spring of last year and recently completed his 21st round of chemotherapy with the hopes of shrinking or controlling the cancer.
Banali‘s history with QUIET RIOT spanned over 37 years and he had the distinction of being the only member of the band to have recorded on every single QUIET RIOT release from 1983’s “Metal Health”, which was the first heavy metal album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard chart, through 2019’s “Hollywood Cowboys”. He also recorded seven albums with W.A.S.P. between 1989 and 2004.
Banali resurrected QUIET RIOT in 2010, three years after the death of singer and founding member Kevin DuBrow.
QUIET RIOT‘s latest studio album, “Hollywood Cowboys” was released in November via Frontiers Music Srl.
