Mieczysław Wróbel, founder of Mietek Blues Band, dies aged 72

The Polish music scene has lost Mieczysław Wróbel, known as Mietek Wróbel. The founder and leader of Mietek Blues Band was 72.

Announcement from the band

The band's members announced the musician's death on social media. The news appeared overnight between Wednesday 22 October 2026 and Thursday 23 October. According to TVN24, Wróbel died on 21 October.

In their statement, the musicians wrote that the news "came like a thunderbolt", and offered condolences to his family and to everyone who loved and valued Mietek. The sources do not give a cause of death.

TVN24 reports that only three days earlier Wróbel had played a concert in Gdynia.

Half a century on stage

Mietek Blues Band was formed in Gdańsk in 1979. Wróbel founded it together with Zbigniew Łaski. At first the musicians played in student clubs. Over time the band became one of the most important blues groups in Poland and, as TVN24 describes it, an inspiration for people fascinated by the genre.

Onet Kultura notes that for fifty years the group remained one of the most recognisable blues names in the country.

The sources we used do not yet give the date or place of the funeral, or any plans for the band.