Guitarist Louie A. Kouvaris aka L.A. – of Riot (now known as Riot V) and Riot Act fame – has died. Reports are indicating it was due to complications of COVID-19, though no official word on cause of death has been confirmed.
Riot posted the following:
Lou (LA) Kouvaris (RIP)
RIOT has lost another brother. Lou played on the very 1st Riot record “Rock City” and performed with the current lineup many times as we are Family. We are saddened by his passing and continue in his and the Riot family honor!
Rest in Power Lou! Now start working on music with Guy Mark and Rhett! Shine on Warrior!
The band are of course referring to Guy Speranza (original lead vocalist from 1975–1981; died 2003 from pancreatic cancer), Mark Reale (original lead guitarist from 1975–1984, 1986–2012; died 2012 of complications related to Crohn’s disease), and Rhett Forrester (lead vocalist from 1981–1984, 1986; died 1994 after being shot during an attempted carjacking).
At one point, Kouvaris also played in Diamond, Faded Blue, Harlequin, Prism, Satelite and more.
RIP, Louie A. Kouvaris.
Here’s more on Lou from his official bio on RiotActBand.com:
Lou A Kouvaris is a world renowned guitarist Born in Piraeus Greece And is best known as the First original Guitarist and co-songwriter for The Heavy Rock/Metal band Riot. Along with Guy Speranza and Mark Reale, L.A co-wrote several of Riot’s anthem style songs on both their debut album “Rock City” and the second album “Narita” which took Japan and Europe by storm.
Lou had shared the stage and toured with Journey Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Neil Young Mark Farner Neil Smith & Rick Derringer to name a few.
In 1979 Recorded for the Village People as a studio guitarist for Jacques Morali of Can’t Stop Productions
1985 musical director for the movie Hot Shot with Pele a soccer player produced by Mario Van Peebles and as an actor Jimmy Young’s of Footloose Penelope Ann Miller Jimmy Smits writing original songs with credits
1988 opened LA production studios as a producer/engineer to the public for recordings commercials voiceovers and production assistance & arranging 1990 created 4 original musical albums for aerobic instructors containing specific criteria for the fitness industry
Rick & Lou are both inductees of the Hall of Heavy Metal History !!!
Top photo via riotactband.com
References: wikipedia.org, metal-archives.com
