Bernie Lynch, frontman and co-founder of Eurogliders, the Australian pop group that enjoyed several hits in the mid-1980s, none bigger than “Heaven (Must Be There),” has died following a battle with throat cancer. He was 72.
“It’s with a heavy heart I’m posting this to let everyone know that Bernie passed away last Thursday (March 12),” writes vocalist Grace Knight, who was married to Lynch in the ‘80s. “I am heartbroken and don’t know how to proceed without him.”
Knight continues, “I don’t know how many shows Eurogliders have done over the years, it must be thousands, and for every single one of them, I’ve had Bernie there, standing beside me. It’s been such a wonderful, wonderful journey and I’m so very proud and honored to have shared it with him.”
Lynch formed Eurogliders in Perth, Western Australia back in 1980, a hotbed for alternative rock and post-punk. Eurogliders had an international breakthrough with 1984’s “Heaven,” housed on the album This Island. The song reached No. 2 on the the ARIA Chart, impacted the Billboard charts, and continues to reverberate more than 40 years after release.
Currently, it soundtracks a major real estate TV campaign in Australia, and the song was identified by music historian The Professor of Rock as one of the most underrated, overlooked songs of its era.
The band would enjoy a slew of domestic hits, including 1985’s “We Will Together,” sung by Lynch, and 1986’s “Can’t Wait to See You,” before disbanding at the end of the decade.
Eurogliders reunited several times, both in the mid-2000s for an album release and to perform on the Countdown Spectacular nostalgia tour, and again in 2023 for the Sunset Sounds beachside festival.
Lynch was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2024, and underwent successful treatment. The illness, however, was later found to have spread into his bones and organs, and he started to deteriorate rapidly, Knight explains.
“Bernie was an incredibly kind and caring person and generous to a fault. He’d fuss about making sure the band were happy and had after show cheese and biscuits and a refreshing beverage. He’d come to stay at my house and turn up with bags of food and take over the kitchen. He was funny and intelligent and engaging. If you weren’t well, or life had thrown you a curve ball, he’d be the first one on the phone to see how you were going,” she continues.
And, of course, there’s the songs.
“Without Bernie’s songs, there would be no Eurogliders,” Knight explains. “Songs he wrote as a young man that are still being listened to, songs that 40 years later still get played on the radio, songs that people still sing along to at our shows, songs that have brought so much joy to so many people. What a great legacy and such a fantastic contribution to the cultural landscape of this country.”
This story originally appeared on Billboard
