Clem Burke, whose versatile drumming propelled the enduring rock group Blondie throughout its a long time performing every little thing from new-wave punk to disco-infused tunes, has died. He was 70.
The band mentioned in a press release on its web site Monday that he died from most cancers however no extra particulars had been supplied.
“Clem was not only a drummer; he was the heartbeat of Blondie,” the band mentioned in a press release. “His expertise, power, and keenness for music had been unmatched, and his contributions to our sound and success are immeasurable.”
The self-proclaimed “rock & roll survivalist” began enjoying the drums when he was 14 in his college orchestra however was kicked out for taking part in too loud, in response to Blondie’s web site. Within the 1970’s, he answered a band’s advert within the Village Voice looking for a “freak power” rock drummer, kicking off his decades-long profession with lead singer Debbie Harry and the remainder of his Blondie bandmates.
The band recorded its first album in 1976 and by the next yr was touring with such icons as Iggy Pop and David Bowie. It turned generally known as essentially the most commercially profitable band to emerge from a fertile New York rock scene that additionally produced Speaking Heads and the Ramones.
In 2006 Burke and the opposite authentic members of Blondie had been inducted into the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame after promoting greater than 42 million information, in response to Blondie’s web site.
Through the late Seventies and early ’80s, the band had eight High 40 hits, together with 4 No. 1s: “Coronary heart of Glass,” “Name Me,” “The Tide Is Excessive” and “Rapture,” which is thought to be the primary No. 1 hit to characteristic rap. There’s additionally a five-track 1975 album demo that features “Platinum Blonde,” a form of band mission assertion. However Burke’s mark was particularly solidified together with his speedy, highly effective drumming in the beginning of “Dreaming” in 1979.
In 2022, after unearthing a New Wave treasure trove of reel-to-reel tapes, cassettes and information, the band created the field set “Blondie: Against the Odds, 1974-1982,” with 124 tracks and 36 beforehand unissued recordings, demos, outtakes and remixed variations of Blondie’s preliminary six studio albums.
Burke mirrored on the invention in an Related Press article: “We by no means would have thought that we might nonetheless be right here at this time. Trying again at our archives, it’s fairly wonderful.”
The Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame described Burke in a submit Monday on the social platform X as “a flexible and distinctive drummer who performed precisely what every tune required – and, when referred to as for, let unfastened with blistering punk rock power.”
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