JUNKYARD singer DAVID ROACH dies after battle with cancer
04-08-2025
JUNKYARD frontman David Roach has died after a battle with cancer.
On Saturday (August 2), Roach‘s JUNKYARD bandmates shared the following message via social media: “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of David Roach.
“After a courageous battle with cancer, David passed away peacefully last night at home, in the loving arms of his wife.
“He was a gifted artist, performer, songwriter, and singer — but above all, a devoted father, husband, and brother.
“Our thoughts are with the entire Roach family and everyone who loved him.”
This past February, it was announced that Roach was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. It was later revealed that he was battling an “aggressive squamous cell carcinoma affecting his head, neck, and throat”. He reportedly received the shock diagnosis after falling ill with a “fever and cough”
Roach, who had been part of JUNKYARD since 1987, married his wife Jennifer Michael-Roach on July 19, 2025.
A GoFundMe page, which was launched by Jennifer along with some of David‘s close friends, raised $35,000 for the singer’s treatment as he had no income coming in and was “struggling to keep a roof over his head”.
In 1989 JUNKYARD burst on to the scene with its self-titled debut release on Geffen Records which featured the MTV “Hip Clip Of The Week” “Hollywood”. Receiving heavy rotation on both MTV and on rock radio put the band among the forefront of the crop of rock bands coming out of Los Angeles in the late 1980s.
Multiple tours with the likes of LYNYRD SKYNYRD and THE BLACK CROWES (who supported JUNKYARD on their first U.S. tour) soon followed and the follow-up release “Sixes, Sevens & Nines” featured the radio hit “All The Time In The World” as well as the ballad “Slippin’ Away” co-written by legendary songwriter Steve Earle.
Back in 1992, JUNKYARD was a well-oiled machine, their previous two releases performed well, they had multiple videos in rotation on MTV and successful club and arena tours under their belt. Looking to infuse more of their musical sensibilities into their third effort, they began writing and recording and in a short few months, they had compiled over 20 songs. The new material reflected more of their alt/punk roots, which wasn’t much of a directional change considering their strong punk pedigree. But the major label’s rush to jump on the next “popular music trend” quickly led to JUNKYARD‘s demise.
“At this point, NIRVANA‘s ‘Nevermind’ album had been out a few months and we all kind of knew which way the wind was blowing,” Roach recalled in 2019. “We didn’t really ‘officially’ break up as a band; it was as simple as the party’s over.” So, with zero fanfare, the bandmembers signed their release paperwork from Geffen (a whopping two-page fax), gathered their gear and parted ways. Twenty years later, Geffen re-released the first two JUNKYARD albums and once again, the band was in demand. Tours of Japan and Europe followed, including a headlining slot at Serie Z festival in Spain, and the band started writing again. In early 2017, JUNKYARD released “High Water”, their first full-length album in 26 years, on Los Angeles independent record label Acetate Records. The album peaked at 24 on Billboard‘s Hard Rock charts and JUNKYARD once again played to packed houses across America and Europe.
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