Jeffrey Runnings, the vocalist, bassist, and founder of indie band For Against, has died. Independent Project Records confirmed he passed away on Mar. 3 after a battle with Stage 4 cancer. He was 61.
Independent Project Records founder and co-owner Bruce Licher shared a statement with Pitchfork:
Jeffrey Runnings was not only a good friend and an outstanding musician and songwriter, but someone whose life revolved around music. Jeff was always enthusiastically sharing music that he thought his friends would enjoy, and for years he would send me handwritten letters often accompanied by records he thought I should have, or a mixtape he’d made that he thought I should hear. Even now, in the middle of the second decade of the 21st Century, when he sent me his new album to hear for the first time, it was on a cassette tape that he mailed through the post. I couldn’t have asked for anything more special. His unique voice will be missed on so many levels.
Jeffrey Runnings was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1963. In 1984, he formed For Against, originally playing the keyboard. After lineup changes, the band's core became Runnings on vocals and bass, Harry Dingman III on guitar, and Gregory Hill on drums. Their debut album Echelons arrived in 1987, and they went on to release seven more studio LPs, the last of which was 2009's Never Been.
Last year, Runnings recorded a solo album called Piqued. It's slated for release later this year.
