Former Death/Sebastian Bach guitarist Ralph Santolla to be taken off life support

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Guitarist fell into a coma after suffering major heart attack

Ralph Santolla, the former guitarist with Death, Iced Earth and Sebastian Bach’s band, is to be taken off life support after falling into a coma following a severe heart attack.

Santolla, 48, was hospitalised on May 30. According to a Facebook post by his mother, Sue Santolla-Roche, his heart attack was the result of a blood clot.

The guitarist was initially put on a ventilator to keep him breathing, but his son, Dorian Angelo Santolla, broke the news that he would be taken off life support on Wednesday June 6.

In the wake of the news, Santolla’s mother revealed that the guitarist is an organ donor.

Santolla played with several iconic death metal bands in the 90s and 00s, including Deicide and Obituary. He was also a member of Iced Earth and former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach’s solo band.

Dave Everley
Dave Everley

Dave Everley has been writing about and occasionally humming along to music since the early 90s. During that time, he has been Deputy Editor on Kerrang! and Classic Rock, Associate Editor on Q magazine and staff writer/tea boy on Raw, not necessarily in that order. He has written for Metal Hammer, Louder, Prog, the Observer, Select, Mojo, the Evening Standard and the totally legendary Ultrakill. He is still waiting for Billy Gibbons to send him a bottle of hot sauce he was promised several years ago.