Photo: Alan Merrill in Greenwich Village on Sept. 13, 2009 in New York City

Alan Merrill, co-writer and singer of the original version of song "I Love Rock 'N' Roll," has died at age 69 from COVID-19.

"The Coronavirus took my father this morning," his daughter Laura Merrill wrote emotional on Facebook. "I was given 2 minutes to say my goodbyes before I was rushed out. He seemed peaceful and as I left  was still a glimmer of hope that he wouldn’t be a ticker on the right hand side of the CNN/Fox news screen. I walked 50 blocks home still with hope in my heart. The city that I knew was empty. I felt I was the only person here and perhaps in many ways I was. By the time I got in the doors to my apartment I received the news that he was gone."

"How could this be?" Merrill's daughter said. "I was just at his show a couple of weeks ago. I had just photographed his portrait for his new album. Texted with him earlier. He played down the 'cold' he thought he had."

"People are dying. You don’t think It’ll happen to you or your strong family. It has. Stay home if not for you...for others. For my dad. This thing is real. We probably won’t be able to mourn him properly with a funeral. I just lost the greatest love of my life and won’t be able to hug anyone because I’ve been exposed and need to self quarantine for two weeks....alone," she said.

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