Attention: Please take a moment to consider our terms and conditions before posting.

RIP Clem Burke

The brilliant drummer who came to fame with Blondie has died from cancer aged 70. RIP Clem. 
«1

Comments

  • RalphMilnesgut
    RalphMilnesgut Posts: 1,751
    Sad news
  • Chizz
    Chizz Posts: 28,337
    Oh no. Brilliant drummer. Enormous consumer of hairspray. Clem Burke was probably the most British drummer not to have come from the UK. 
  • CafcWest
    CafcWest Posts: 6,170
    edited April 7
    Sad news.  Another from my youth gone!  RIP.  Always think of him as Blondie's drummer but had a really diverse drumming career.  As per Wikipedia.
  • Bilko
    Bilko Posts: 767
    Bloody Hell RIP.
  • charlton4ever
    charlton4ever Posts: 1,716
    Remember buying "Denis/Contact in Red Square/Kung Fu Girls" and playing it on repeat. Parallel Lines is still a great listen. Thank you Clem and RIP.
  • bristoladdick
    bristoladdick Posts: 1,147
    Sad news. RIP Clem.
  • eastterrace6168
    eastterrace6168 Posts: 22,525
    RIP Clem...
    This is terrible news...an absolute icon as regards drumming and such a huge driving force behind Blondie...so sad but great memories...
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEqXgPtbQ6w

  • paulbaconsarnie
    paulbaconsarnie Posts: 9,423
    Was only a month or 2 ago when the Jams drummer passed away that I was talking to a mate and said I thought the drumming in blondies ‘dreaming’ as being the lead instrument in that track, something not very common.
    RIP
  • Hal1x
    Hal1x Posts: 4,265
    edited April 7
    Bloody hell thats an awful shock! He was one of the driving forces in Blondie and one of the few not to fall out with Debbie Harry.

    RIP
  • Henry Irving
    Henry Irving Posts: 85,225
    RIP
  • Sponsored links:



  • Outstanding drummer with great head of hair. RIP
  • soapy_jones
    soapy_jones Posts: 21,353
    RIP
  • HardyAddick
    HardyAddick Posts: 1,637
    Sad unexpected news. Great drummer 
  • SouthallAddick
    SouthallAddick Posts: 140
    I saw him do a smashing-up-the-drum-kit tribute to Keith Moon, at Blondie's Hammersmith Odeon gig two days after Moon died in 1978.  RIP
  • Covered End
    Covered End Posts: 52,008
    RIP Clem, I took my wife to see Blondie (she was a big fan) a few times.
  • stonemuse
    stonemuse Posts: 34,004
    Great drummer great band … RIP
  • Hal1x
    Hal1x Posts: 4,265
    Also was the Eurythmics drummer for a while.
  • KBslittlesis
    KBslittlesis Posts: 8,607
    Very very sad.
    RIP 😢
  • Horsfield9
    Horsfield9 Posts: 3,082
    RIP 
  • SuedeAdidas
    SuedeAdidas Posts: 7,741
    stonemuse said:
    Great drummer great band … RIP
    ….great Barnet. 

    RIP
  • Sponsored links:



  • bigstemarra
    bigstemarra Posts: 5,098
    Great character, great drummer.

    RIP
  • ElfsborgAddick
    ElfsborgAddick Posts: 29,042
    edited April 8
    So sad.

    He WAS Blondie as far as I'm concerned.

    I saw them play a few times, he was fantastic.

    Sleep well.
  • Pedro45
    Pedro45 Posts: 5,823
    An excellent and awe inspiring drummer who was very underrated.  I met him at a party in the late eighties and he was very happy to chat.  RIP Clem
  • Big William
    Big William Posts: 3,840
    edited April 8
    Someone whose name always comes up when I ask drummers I know who they respect, and looking online today loads of musicians saying the same. 
    Just feast on this, ignore Debbie Harry (for once) and enjoy a force of nature in action.

    RIP Clem.


    https://youtu.be/TU3-lS_Gryk?si=ay8dj0be_cNdLWrt



  • Algarveaddick
    Algarveaddick Posts: 21,156
    One second in on the video, That's Danny B. Harvey, Levi Dexter and Stephen "Smutty" Smith from Levi and the Rockats sat on the scaffolding doing the hand-jive. I don't know Danny, but Smutty and Levi both payed lovely tributes to Clem on Facebook.  
  • Hal1x
    Hal1x Posts: 4,265
    edited April 10
    Someone whose name always comes up when I ask drummers I know who they respect, and looking online today loads of musicians saying the same. 
    Just feast on this, ignore Debbie Harry (for once) and enjoy a force of nature in action.

    RIP Clem.


    https://youtu.be/TU3-lS_Gryk?si=ay8dj0be_cNdLWrt



    I tried, I really tried!, but sorry I just couldn't quite ignore Debbie Harry. <3  
  • HastingsRed
    HastingsRed Posts: 1,589
    Parallel Lines was one of my first albums RIP.
  • HastingsRed
    HastingsRed Posts: 1,589
    edited April 9
    Blondie - Union City Blue (Official Music Video) Love this video, as we lived up the road from where it was shot....great drumming intro.
  • eastterrace6168
    eastterrace6168 Posts: 22,525
    Hal1x said:
    Someone whose name always comes up when I ask drummers I know who they respect, and looking online today loads of musicians saying the same. 
    Just feast on this, ignore Debbie Harry (for once) and enjoy a force of nature in action.

    RIP Clem.


    https://youtu.be/TU3-lS_Gryk?si=ay8dj0be_cNdLWrt



    I tried, I really tried!, but I just couldn't ignore Debbie Harry. <3  
    Yeah...bloody Velcro, never holds that well normally...🙄