MR. BIG bassist Billy Sheehan says that no decisions have yet been made regarding the band's future following last year's passing of Pat Torpey. The drummer died in February 2018 at the age of 64 from complications of Parkinson's disease. Speaking to Brazil's Lokaos Rock Show, Sheehan stated about the possibility of more MR. BIG live shows and studio recordings: "Well, we haven't made any decisions yet. But myself, Eric [Martin, vocals] and Paul [Gilbert, guitar], we're very good friends, and we really wanted to take a while to stop MR. BIG because Pat was such an important part of the band. We did some shows with another drummer — Matt Starr; he's a great drummer and sang really good. So we'll wait a little while and then maybe make some decisions later. But we haven't made any decisions yet on anything." Asked if he is still grieving the loss of his bandmate, Sheehan said: "Well, not so much grieving, but we just wanna let life settle out a little bit. Pat was my best friend in music, and we were the closest in MR. BIG — me and Pat were. We were very, very close. So it was a big loss for me and a big loss for the band and a big loss for the fans, and, of course, his family as well. But we wanna honor his legacy. If we do anything, we wanna do something great. We don't know yet what that would be, but we wanna make sure we honor his legacy with going out there. If we do something, it will have to be fabulous." Last fall, Martin told the "Friday NI Rocks" show that the band was planning to make a new studio record in 2019. But he added that once MR. BIG was done with its touring commitments, it would time for the group to call it quits. "Yeah, that's the last hurrah — that's it," he said. "It feels a little uncomfortable to keep going without Pat Torpey." MR. BIG's latest album, "Defying Gravity", was released in July 2017 via Frontiers Music Srl. After announcing his Parkinson's diagnosis in 2014, Torpey continued to write, record and perform with MR. BIG, who also recruited Starr to share drum duties. MR. BIG, formed in 1988, produced numerous hit songs that ranged across a wide array of rock genres — be it ballads, heavy metal, or blues rock. Their hits include "Alive And Kicking", "Just Take My Heart" and the chart-topping ballad "To Be With You".
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