Longtime David Bowie Drummer Dennis Davis Dies

David Bowie‘s longtime drummer Dennis Davis has died following a prolonged battle with cancer. The late pop star’s producer Tony Visconti confirmed the drummer’s death on Facebook yesterday.

First teaming up with Bowie on the recording of Young Americans in 1975, Davis went on to work with the legendary songwriter on a number of recordings including his Berlin trilogy Low, Heroes and The Lodger as well as the Bowie produced Iggy Pop album The Idiot.

Growing up in Manhattan, Davis was lucky enough to learn at the feet of jazz greats Max Roach and Elvin Jones, starting his career in 1967 playing in the Clark Terry Big Band. He was then drafted to serve in Vietnam, where after being wounded during a tour was able to practice his drumming in the U.S. Navy’s Drum and Bugle Corps.

Bowie wasn’t the only big name Davis worked with after his service however, the New York local racking up credits with legends like Roy Ayers, George Benson, Ronnie Foster and Stevie Wonder. Working on his first solo album in the later years of his life, the project titled The Groovemaster has yet to be released.

Speaking of his drumming to Uncut magazine in 1999, Bowie described Davis as “a powerfully emotive drummer” noting that when he played “The tempo not only ‘moved’ but also was expressed in more than ‘human’ fashion.”

Visconti had his own thoughts to add to Davis’ legacy. “He was one of the most creative drummers I have ever worked with,” he wrote on Facebook.

“He was a disciplined jazz drummer who tore into Rock with a Jazz sensibility. Listen to the drum breaks on Black Out from the Heroes album. He had a conga drum as part of his setup and he made it sound like two musicians were playing drums and congas.

“By Scary Monsters he was playing parts that were unthinkable but they fit in so perfectly. His sense of humor was wonderful. As an ex-member of the US Air Force, he told us stories of seeing a crashed UFO first hand by accidentally walking through an unauthorized hanger. There will never be another drummer, human being and friend like Dennis, a magical man.”

You can read the full post for yourself here, as well as have a listen to Black Out from Heroes below.