On June 7th, BOB WELCH, the influential guitarist and vocalist for FLEETWOOD MAC in the band's early days, took his life at his Nashville-area home. He was 65.

US nationally syndicated radio show Rockline with host Bob Coburn, will pay tribute to Welch on Wednesday, June 20th at 8:30pm PT/11:30pm ET.

For more information on finding a station near you and for information regarding how to log onto the internet broadcast go to Rocklineradio.com. The show will be streamed on the Rockline website for two weeks beginning the afternoon after the live broadcast.

Welch played with Fleetwood Mac in the early to mid-1970s, before the group achieved superstar status with Fleetwood Mac (1975) and Rumours (1977). He played on five records - Future Games, Bare Trees, Penguin, Mystery To Me and Heroes Are Hard To Find, the band's first to crack the US Top 40. He was also responsible for two early hits, 'Sentimental Lady' and 'Hypnotized'. Welch left the band in late 1974, replaced by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, who helped catapult the group to stardom. He had some success as a solo artist in the late 1970s including his 1977 hit 'Ebony Eyes'.

Members of the rock/metal community paid tribute to the artist:

SLASH : "RIP Bob Welch. Unfortunate business."

Nikki Sixx (MÖTLEY CRÜE): "RIP Bob Welsh. Fleetwood Mac spoke for itself but your band PARIS was one of my all time favorite bands."

ALICE COOPER: "Bob played the 2008 Xmas pudding show with us, and he was great. It's always a shock to me to hear of a fellow rocker leaving our realm in this manner. I guess you never know what might be going on in someone's life. We respect his memory and his music, and we'll miss him."

FOGHAT: "We are saddened to hear of the passing of Bob Welch. He was a very talented guy and when we knew him in the 70's he had a great sense of humor and spent quite a bit of time with us in Port Jefferson. Our thoughts are with his family at this time. Linda & Roger Earl

STEVIE NICKS (Fleetwood Mac): "The death of Bob Welch is devastating ... I had many great times with him after Lindsey and I joined Fleetwood Mac. He was an amazing guitar player - he was funny, sweet - and he was smart. I am so very sorry for his family and for the family of Fleetwood Mac - so, so sad."