Graeme Edge, Moody Blues drummer and co-founder, dead at 80
Graeme Edge, Moody Blues drummer
and co-founder, dead at 80
The band’s frontman Justin Hayward
confirmed Edge’s death Thursday on the group’s website
By Stephanie Nolasco | Fox News
Fox News Flash top entertainment
headlines for November 11
Graeme Edge, a drummer and
co-founder of The Moody Blues, has died. He was 80.
The group’s frontman, Justin
Hayward, confirmed Edge’s passing Thursday on the band’s website. The cause of
death has not been revealed.
Hayward, 75, described Edge as
the backbone of the British rock band, which was inducted into the Rock &
Roll Hall of Fame in 2018. Their last album was released in 2003.
"When Graeme told me he was
retiring I knew that without him it couldn’t be the Moody Blues anymore,"
Hayward said. "And that’s what happened. It’s true to say that he kept the
group together throughout all the years because he loved it."
In 1964, Edge co-founded the
group in Birmingham, England. His drumming expertise was a key ingredient for
the band’s massive prog-rock hits between the 1960s-70s including "Nights
in White Satin," "Tuesday Afternoon" and "I’m Just a Singer
(In a Rock and Roll Band)."
Hayward joined The Moody Blues in
1966 with bassist John Lodge after Denny Laine departed from the band.
"In the late 1960s we became
the group that Graeme always wanted it to be, and he was called upon to be a
poet as well as a drummer," Hayward explained. "He delivered that
beautifully and brilliantly while creating an atmosphere and setting that the
music would never have achieved without his words. I asked Jeremy Irons to
recreate them for our last tours together and it was absolutely magical."
Edge was featured in The Moody
Blues’ 16 studio albums starting with "The Magnificent Moodies" in
1965 and ending with their final album, the Christmas-themed
"December" in 2003.
Lodge took to the band’s Facebook
page where he paid homage to Edge.
"To me, he was the White
Eagle of the North with his beautiful poetry," the 76-year-old shared.
"His friendship, his love of life and his ‘unique’ style of drumming that
was the engine room of the Moody Blues. … I will miss you Graeme."
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