Clem Burke, Drummer Of Iconic Rock Group Blondie, Dead At 70

Clem Burke, whose versatile drumming propelled the enduring rock group Blondie throughout its a long time performing all the pieces from new-wave punk to disco-infused tunes, has died. He was 70.

The band mentioned in an announcement 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 an announcement. “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, based on Blondie’s web site. Within the 1970’s, he answered a band’s advert within the Village Voice searching 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 12 months was touring with such icons as Iggy Pop and David Bowie. It grew to become often 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 unique members of Blondie had been inducted into the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame after promoting greater than 42 million data, based on Blondie’s web site.

Through the late Nineteen Seventies and early ’80s, the band had eight Prime 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 type of band mission assertion. However Burke’s mark was particularly solidified along with his fast, highly effective drumming at first of “Dreaming” in 1979.

In 2022, after unearthing a New Wave treasure trove of reel-to-reel tapes, cassettes and data, the band created the field set “Blondie: Towards 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’d nonetheless be right here at present. 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 track required – and, when referred to as for, let unfastened with blistering punk rock power.”