Clem Burke, famed drummer for Blondie, died Sunday. He was 70.
The official Blondie account introduced the information of Burke’s demise: “It’s with profound unhappiness that we relay information of the passing of our beloved buddy and bandmate Clem Burke following a personal battle with most cancers.
“Clem was not only a drummer; he was the heartbeat of Blondie. His expertise, vitality, and fervour for music had been unmatched, and his contributions to our sound and success are immeasurable. Past his musicianship, Clem was a supply of inspiration each on and off the stage. His vibrant spirit, infectious enthusiasm and rock strong work ethic touched everybody who had the privilege of understanding him.”
The assertion was signed “Debbie, Chris, and your complete Blondie household.”
Burke performed on all of Blondie’s albums, from their 1976 self-titled debut to their breakthrough Parallel Traces album in 1978, that includes their chart-topping “Coronary heart of Glass,” 1979’s Eat to the Beat and 1980’s Autoamerican. After the band regrouped in 1997, he appeared on their subsequent albums, 1999’s No Exit, 2003’s The Curse of Blondie, 2014’s Ghosts of Obtain and 2017’s Pollinator, their closing LP so far.
Burke’s passing got here as a shock to many, however his shut mates acknowledged he’d been battling most cancers for the previous few months. In recent times, he and singer Deborah Harry had been the one authentic members of Blondie nonetheless touring (each carried out ultimately yr’s Merciless World pageant in Pasadena), with co-founding member guitarist Chris Stein sidelined by his personal well being points.
Burke, a tireless performer who toured with different bands when Blondie was idle, was a founding member of two of his hometown Bayonne, New Jersey’s hottest cowl bands, Whole Atmosphere and candy Willie Jam Band, and he had a stint within the famend Saint Andrew Bridgemen Drum and Bugle Corps.
Recruited by Harry and Stein, Burke joined Blondie in early 1975, because it shortly grew to become one of many breakout bands from the New York punk explosion at golf equipment like CBGB and Max’s Kansas Metropolis. Burke, who helped the band recruit his buddy Gary Valentine on bass, cited his personal drum influences as Hal Blaine, Keith Moon, Ringo Starr and Earl Palmer in a 1998 article in U.Okay. rock journal Mojo.
On discovering his personal rock celebrity to play with, Burke famous in an interview: “I used to be emphatic that I wanted to work with folks that I felt had that kind of charisma and creativity. Debbie was wonderful. You might sense that instantly. And I’m not speaking about simply her magnificence. I’m simply speaking about her complete essence as a human being, as an individual. I might put her on the identical stage as [David] Bowie, so far as the issues that she comes up with creatively.”
When Blondie took break day from touring and recording within the ‘80s and ‘90s, Burke performed drums recurrently for the Romantics and sat in with the likes of Pete Townshend, Bob Dylan, Eurythmics, Dramarama, the Fleshtones, Iggy Pop and Joan Jett. He joined post-punk supergroup Chequered Previous in 1983 alongside Intercourse Pistols guitarist Steve Jones, former Blondie bassist Nigel Harrison, Tony Gross sales and Michael Des Barres in 1983 and performed with the Ramones (as “Elvis” Ramone) for a pair of gigs in August 1987 and with the Go-Go’s on multiple event.
Burke additionally recorded and performed reside with Wanda Jackson, Nancy Sinatra, Kathy Valentine, Dramarama, Slinky Vagabond and Worldwide Swingers (with Intercourse Pistol Glen Matlock, Era X’s James Stevenson and Supernaut’s Gary Twinn). In 2014, he fashioned storage all-star group the Empty Hearts with Romantics lead singer Wally Palmar, Chesterfield Kings bassist Andy Babiuk, the Automobiles’ guitarist Elliot Easton and Faces pianist Ian McLagan for a self-titled Ed Stasium-produced album on Little Stevie Van Zandt’s Depraved Cool label, managed by Jonathan Wolfson (Daryl Corridor).
“Clem was a complete drive of nature,” says Wolfson. “I even have video of him instructing my son Danny how you can play drums.”
“Godspeed Dr. Burke,” the band’s announcement of his passing concluded, a reference to the honorary doctorate he acquired from the College of Gloucestershire for a drumming undertaking he carried out over the course of eight years analyzing the bodily and psychological results of drumming and the stamina required to play probably the most demanding of all devices.
In recent times, annoyed over the time Blondie wasn’t touring, Burke carried out in a tribute band, Bootleg Blondie, which wasn’t acquired all that warmly by his bandmates. Burke advised TIDAL in 2022, “It’s a really fascinating expertise for me, though considerably controversial, however I’m capable of see that the legacy of Blondie is actually the songs.”
He was inducted along with his Blondie bandmates into the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame in 2006.
His frequent collaborator, Michael Des Barres, put it merely in a textual content: “Like me, he lived for rock ‘n’ roll.”
