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Moody Blues drummer Graeme Edge dead at 80
Moody Blues founder member and drummer Graeme Edge has died, aged 80
Graeme Edge, drummer with UK prog legends the Moody Blues, has died, aged 80, it has been confirmed by fellow Moody Blues colleague John Lodge.
“Sadly Graeme left us today,” said Lodge on Twitter earlier. “To me he was the White Eagle of the North with his beautiful poetry, his friendship, his love of life and his unique style of drumming that was the engine room of the Moody Blues. I will miss you Graeme.”
Edge was a founding member of the Birmingham band in 1964, along with Ray Thomas (flute, vocals), Mike Pinder (keyboards), Denny Laine (singer, guitarist) and Clint Warwick (singer, bassist). With the recruitment of Justin Hayward and John Lodge, replacing Laine and Warwick, the band shifted from r’n’b to a more symphonic sound, releasing the groundbreaking progressive rock album Days Of Future Passed in1967 which spawned the massive hit Nights In White Satin.
As well as the band’s drummer, Edge also contributed poetry to the band, although this was often recited by Pinder owing, according to Edge, to the fact his voice better suited due to his fondness for whiskey and cigarettes. Morning Glory, Late Lament, The Word, In The Beginning and The Dream, the latter recited by Edge himself, were just some of his written word contributions to the band’s early albums.
By 1969 Edge began contributing songs to the band; Higher And Higher on To Our Children’s Children’s Children, album opener Procession on Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1971), You And Me on 1972’s Seventh Sojourn, and it later years, 20,000 Days on Long Distance Voyager (1981), Going Nowhere (1983’s The Present) and The Spirit on 1986’s The Other Side Of Life, were just some of his contributions.
When The Moodies went on hiatus in 1974 Edge formed The Graeme Edge band with Adrian and Paul Gurvitz and released two albums, 1975’s Kick Your Muddy Boots Off which featured a guest appearance from Ginger Baker, and Paradise Ballroom in 1977.
Edge remained the last original member of the Moody Blues in the current line-up. Singer and flute player Ray Thomas passed away in 2018 aged 76.
Source: loudersound.com
