Bob “Bongo” Starkie, guitarist for Skyhooks, one of Australia’s most influential rock groups, has died at the age of 73.
He breathed his last after a year-long battle with acute myeloid leukemia. According to his daughter Indiana, her father died “surrounded by friends and family” and “in peace.”
In a Facebook post on Friday, November 28, the groundbreaking Australian rock band honored the late guitarist by paying him a heartfelt tribute.
“It is with sadness in our hearts that we have to send the news that early this morning Bob “Bongo” Starkie has passed away,” they confirmed the sad news. “Music was in his blood until the end.”
“He embraced theatrics, from flashy facial makeup to unique stage costumes,” the Skyhooks member recalled. “Music always came first and touring and playing on stage was his absolute joy.”
In the same tribute, Starkie’s daughter noted that he was deeply loved by his daughters Indiana and Arabella, his grandchildren Phoenix and Lucia, his partner Chrissy, his close friend Ian and his sons-in-law Simon and Chris, adding: “He felt the love until the end.”
For the uninitiated, Starkie joined Skyhooks in August 1973, replacing his older brother Peter Starkie, who died in 2020 at age 72 following complications from a fall.
Peter was one of the musicians who helped establish the initial line-up that would dominate Australian rock in the mid-1970s, following the formation of Skyhooks in Melbourne in 1973.
