Obituary
First division folk rock tubsman, with a resounding career from Cat Stevens, Fotheringay, Fairport etc. Left Fairport a little reluctantly, or so it felt, a year or so back, adamant he wasn’t retiring.
Gerry Conway
by 5 Comments
Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Simon Nicol had this to say.
My dearest drumming pal, someone I first worked alongside in about 1968 on various sessions and toured with in Al Stewart’s band way back when, as he looked in those days.
He stepped away from the Fairport’s Cropredy Convention Official page stage after the Cropredy festival in 2022, and retired from touring.
None of us knew that he was in the early stages of that pernicious horror Motor Neurone Disease – I didn’t know until today, when news of his death filtered out from the protection and privacy he and Jacqui Mcshee sought and deserved.
Wonderfully patient and wise, infuriatingly tardy (!) but always ready and eager to play, and blessed with his own inner calm and solidity, I’m going to miss him more than I can say.
Love you, you wonder.
Ah, the bastard MND! I wondered neuro degenerative, as his drumming was certainly less precise in latter years. And his guarding of that diagnosis perhaps explains the curtness of the then announcements, when he left, as it was so sudden and unexpected to his band mates.
He’s the linchpin on many UK folk rock albums, but one that is sometimes forgotten is the Eclection album on Elektra from ’68, which is just larvely.
The man speaks the truth. I’d forgotten about this.
I lost a dear friend to MND a few years ago – she way outlived expectations, and remained incredibly cheerful and positive the whole way through, but it was bloody tragic.