News: Legendary Tattoo Artist, Mike “Rollo Banks” Malone, Dies

Mike Malone, affectionately known as Rollo, has been called a living legend in the tattoo world. He has an extensive and fascinating history, having worked with other legends in the industry such as Ed Hardy and Sailor Jerry. William Thidermann of Prick Magazine expressed this sentiment about Malone when he did an interview with him in 2005 – "Ask any tattooer worth two cents about Mike Malone and you can hear the obvious admiration for him."

Sadly, Mike Malone was found in his Chicago home on Wednesday, April 18th, dead from a gunshot wound that was apparently self-inflicted. He was 64. Police found a suicide note that said, “Time to check out.”

Michael Corcoran, a personal friend of Malone’s from Austin, Texas, had this to say in his very touching eulogy: “When Margaret told me Wednesday that Rollo had shot himself, I started thinking about what was going through his mind at the time. It never dawned on me that he was depressed. It was just ‘time to check out,’ as he stated [in] his suicide note. We all have to die sometime, and Rollo was not going to let anything else pick his date. He was a man about it. Margaret told me he had been in a lot of physical pain, with the effects of diabetes ravaging his body.”

Mike Malone had been working at Taylor Street Tattoo in Chicago, Illinois. They also have a MySpace page if you would like to send a message of condolence to the crew. My heart goes out to all of his family, friends and admirers. I hope Rollo is finding peace wherever he is now.