Gerry Conway, Cat Stevens/Fairport Conference Drummer, Lifeless at 76

Gerry Conway, veteran people and rock drummer who performed with Cat Stevens, Jethro Tull, Fairport Conference and others, died on Friday on the age of 76.

Fairport Conference singer, guitarist and co-founder Simon Nicol paid tribute to Conway in a Fb submit over the weekend. He published that Conway battled motor neurone illness — sometimes called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s illness — which ends up in the slow lack of motor neurons that keep an eye on voluntary muscular tissues.

Nicol known as Conway “my dearest drumming good friend, anyone I first labored along in about 1968 on more than a few classes and toured with in Al Stewart’s band long ago when.” He praised his former bandmate as “splendidly affected person and sensible, infuriatingly tardy (!) however all the time in a position and desperate to play, and blessed together with his personal internal calm and solidity. I’m going to omit him greater than I will say.”

Gerry Conway’s Lifestyles and Occupation

Born in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, England, in 1947, Conway made his recording debut with the British people band Eclection on their 1968 self-titled album. In 1970 he performed on Steeleye Span’s Hark! The Village Wait and Stewart’s 0 She Flies prior to becoming a member of Stevens’ band as a recording and traveling member.  He performed on seven consecutive Stevens albums, from 1971’s Teaser and the Firecat thru 1978’s Again to Earth.

READ MORE: Best 10 Cat Stevens Songs

Conway later joined Jethro Tull for 1982’s The Broadsword and the Beast and 1987’s Grammy-winning Crest of a Knave. He additionally spent a lot of the last decade traveling with Fairport Conference’s Richard Thompson, after all becoming a member of the crowd in 1998. Conway gave the impression on 9 Fairport Conference albums, from 1999’s The Picket and the Cord thru 2020’s Shuffle and Move — many years after enjoying on 3 songs from the band’s 1973 album Rosie. Conway left the crowd in 2022 after being recognized with MND.

Stevens additionally paid tribute to Conway over the weekend, writing on social media: “Unfortunately my nice outdated drummer, Gerry Conway, simply gave up the ghost. What a lad, and what ingenuity and elegance. Would possibly God grant him the gorgeous praise of peace permanent.”