Alan Merrill, guitarist who co-wrote 'I Love Rock and Roll,' dies of COVID-19 at 69

NEW YORK — His daughter says Alan Merrill — who co-wrote the song “I Love Rock and Roll" that became a signature hit for fellow rocker Joan Jett — died Sunday in New York of complications from the coronavirus. He was 69.

Laura Merrill says on her Facebook account that he died in the morning.

Merrill says her father was in good spirits recently. She went to a show of his about two weeks ago and had taken a photograph of him for his new album.

Jett scored a major hit with “I Love Rock and Roll" in 1982. Alan Merrill wrote the song for his band The Arrows and recorded it in 1975.