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Ginger Baker, legendary drummer of Cream, died at 80

2019-10-06T14:38:24.715Z


Ginger Baker spent his last years at a ranch in South Africa with his polo horses.


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Ginger Baker photographed on stage with Cream in 1967.

London (CNN) - Ginger Baker, a prominent revolt and famous drummer in the Cream supergroup, died at the age of 80 in a hospital in the United Kingdom.

"Dad died peacefully," his daughter Nettie Baker told CNN in a statement. "He was not in pain and had recently been able to see and talk with his children, close relatives and special friends."

The psychedelic rock band Hawkwind, who worked with Baker, tweeted his condolences for his death on Sunday.

“Fly high, Ginger! You were exceptional and a true legend… we had the honor of working with you… RIP, ”reads the Twitter profile of the band.

So very, very sorry to hear this… ..Fly high Ginger! You were a one off and and a true legend… We were honored to work with you… RIP 😢 x

- Hawkwind (@HawkwindHQ) October 6, 2019

Gary Kemp, songwriter for Spandau Ballet, and film director Edgar Wright also paid tribute to a musician who inspired many others.

RIP the great Ginger Baker. The reason so many drummers wanted a double-bass drum. #GingerBaker pic.twitter.com/FXXWsxmsqo

- Gary Kemp (@garyjkemp) October 6, 2019

RIP the music giant that was Ginger Baker. The beat behind too many favorite songs from Cream, The Graham Bond Organization and Alexis Corner's Blues Incorporated. (If you haven't seen the great doc 'Beware Of Mr Baker' do check it out) pic.twitter.com/2ZaJcbcmK2

- edgarwright (@edgarwright) October 6, 2019

Baker grew up in Lewisham, south London, the son of a bricklayer. His father was killed in World War II when Baker was only four years old. Bullying at school, he started playing drums at the age of 16, and was making a living as a professional musician a year later, becoming an element of the Soho jazz scene in the 1950s in London.

He learned about the African rhythms of his hero, another British jazz drummer Phil Seaman, who also presented Baker with the heroine, a habit that plagued much of his life.

In 1962, Baker replaced Charlie Watts as a drummer in blues band Alexis Corner's Blues Incorporated when the latter left to join the Rolling Stones.

Baker then joined the Graham Bond Organization, a blues band that quickly became popular in the UK with Bond and bassist Jack Bruce with whom Baker had a legendary tumultuous relationship. The Graham Bond Organization ended when Baker dismissed Bruce at knife point.

Ginger Baker photographed at home with his children in December 1974.

Baker decided to form his own band and invited guitarist Eric Clapton to join him. Clapton agreed to join Baker to form Cream in 1966. Bruce also joined and the world's first rock supergroup formed by established musicians was born.

"He saw something about me that I never thought before, I would say it's time," Clapton said in the acclaimed 2012 documentary on Baker "Beware of Mr. Baker."

"Ginger was quite derogatory and antisocial, seriously antisocial, but he had the gift, he had the spark, the style, the style ... he had it in large numbers."

Jazz was Baker's first love

After only two years, Cream separated, due in large part to the tension between Bruce and Baker, having opened musical techniques that led many to call him the first heavy metal band. Baker also played the first long drum rock solos on stage. Baker and Clapton continued with the Blind Faith group but only for a year.

His next adventure was the Ginger Baker Air Force, a band that fused rock with jazz and African influences. Again, that only lasted only one year.

But jazz was always Baker's first love, and during this period he also played alongside some of the best jazz drummers like Max Roach and Elvin Jones before deciding to put his drumsticks where his heart was and drove his Range Rover through the Sahara desert to Nigeria.

There he got hooked with Afro-beat's father, the legendary Fela Kuti, and for a while the two men were inseparable. Baker established the first 16-track studio in Nigeria and stayed there for several years.

Former Beatle Paul McCartney recorded his 1973 classic album "Band On The Run" there with his band Wings. Baker also learned to play polo in Nigeria, a passion that remained with him forever, but caused a fight with Kuti since many of the members of the Lagos Polo Club were enemies of Kuti.

After he left Nigeria, Baker moved to Italy, where he ran a wine ranch and then moved to the United States. He continued to play with some of the great names of rock 'n' roll, including Public Image Ltd, the band of former Sex Pistols leader Johnny Rotten.

From the left, Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton at the London airport on the way to Los Angeles in 1967.

Cream reunited for the first time in 1993 at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. Twelve years later, they played in their first full reunion shows at Madison Square Garden in New York and the Royal Albert Hall in London. Jack Bruce died in 2014.

Baker spent his last years at a ranch in South Africa with his polo horses.

Her daughter said she suffered "from many long-term conditions," especially a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which "she spoke in many more recent interviews," he said in a statement Sunday.

Cream was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. In 2006, the band received a Grammy Award for their lifetime achievements. Baker was also nominated for a Grammy in 1968 as Best New Artist.

Rock And Roll

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2019-10-06

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