Robbie Bachman of Bachman-Turner Overdrive has died

13 January, 2023

Bachman

Robbie Bachman, drummer and co-founder of Bachman-Turner Overdrive, has died aged 69.

Taking to Twitter to announce the news, his brother and bandmate Randy Bachman wrote: “Another sad departure. The pounding beat behind BTO, my little brother Robbie has joined Mum, Dad & brother Gary on the other side.

“Maybe Jeff Beck needs a drummer! He was an integral cog in our rock ‘n’ roll machine and we rocked the world together.”

Robbie founded the band alongside Randy, their brother Tim Bachman and bassist Fred Turner in Winnipeg, Canada in the early 1970s, releasing a self-titled debut album and follow-up ‘Bachman-Turner Overdrive II’ both in 1973.

After third album ‘Not Fragile’ (1974) featured their biggest hit – ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’ – Randy eventually quit the band in 1977. The band continued with new vocalist Jim Clench, before disbanding in 1980.

Randy then returned to reunite the band in 1983, with Robbie not taking part in the reunion. Their 1984 album ‘Bachman-Turner Overdrive’ was the only LP of their career to not feature Robbie on drums.

Robbie then returned to the band from 1988 to 2005, not appearing in a subsequent reunion in 2009. His final performance with the band came in 2014 when they were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame.

Speaking of the band’s success in a 2014 interview with the Toronto Star, Robbie said: “We didn’t tell anybody they were wrong or anything was bad or don’t do this. It was basically, have a good time, fun music.

“Just coming out of the ’70s with the Vietnam War and all the political things going on — in Canada with Trudeau, and Richard Nixon and stuff like that — we just basically had enough of that stuff.”

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