Jenny Pagliaro of Roses & Cigarettes Dies at 35

photo: Rachel Louise Photography

Jenny Pagliaro, the lead singer and co-founder of Los Angeles-based country rock/Americana band Roses & Cigarettes, has died. She passed away Friday, March 26th from complications due to Stage IV Breast Cancer. She was 35-years-old. Pagliaro formed Roses & Cigarettes in 2013 with Angela Petrilli after meeting at an audition for a cover band, and they soon became close friends. Roses & Cigarettes just released a new album Echoes and Silence in February.

“With heavy hearts and great sorrow we announce the passing of our beloved Jenny on March 26, 2019,” her family said in a statement. “Jenny passed away peacefully at her home in Santa Monica, Calif., comforted by her devoted family and friends.”

The duo released their debut, self-titled album in 2015, and were scheduled to go on tour to promote the new record. It was at this time when Jenny Pagliaro was initially diagnosed with Stage II Beast Cancer. But after receiving treatment, the band chose to continue on, and eventually completed the tour. However Pagliaro’s condition continued to deteriorate, with the Cancer spreading to her bones, lungs, and liver. Nonetheless, Roses & Cigarettes recorded Echoes and Silence and continued to try and stay positive throughout the ordeal. Just as the new record was coming out, Pagliaro’s condition became terminal.

Despite the upbeat tempo and feel, the duo’s single from the record, “Fast As I Can” speaks to Pagliaro’s health struggle. “I got a date with the reaper,” the song goes. “The devil wants my heart in his hands. I’m gonna give him a few more reasons. Start living just as fast as I can.”

“When Jenny and I met at that first cover-band audition, I knew she was special,” says duo partner Angela Petrilli. “I felt it deep in my soul. I remember it like it was yesterday, her sonic energy, her laugh—and that voice. Man, that voice. I never heard anything like it. She was the Mick to my Keith. How thankful and humbled I am that our souls found one another to create the music we did together. Performing her songs brought her the purest form of joy I have ever witnessed another human project, and it brought me joy to watch her grow into the amazing human she was meant to be, on stage and off. I am beyond grateful to have shared this journey with her and I will miss her terribly. Those long car rides will never be the same without you singing along to the radio.”

A mass was held at the St. Monica Catholic Church on Sunday, March 31st in Jenny Pagliaro’s memory. A Go Fund Me page has been set up for her family.

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