Gerry Conway, Cat Stevens/Fairport Convention Drummer, Dead 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 put up over the weekend. He revealed that Conway battled motor neurone illness — often known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s illness — which ends up in the gradual lack of motor neurons that management voluntary muscle tissues.

Nicol referred to as Conway “my dearest drumming pal, somebody I first labored alongside in about 1968 on numerous classes and toured with in Al Stewart’s band means again when.” He praised his former bandmate as “splendidly affected person and sensible, infuriatingly tardy (!) however at all times prepared and desirous to play, and blessed along with his personal internal calm and solidity. I’m going to overlook him greater than I can say.”

Gerry Conway’s Life and Profession

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 Zero She Flies earlier than becoming a member of Stevens’ band as a recording and touring member.  He performed on seven consecutive Stevens albums, from 1971’s Teaser and the Firecat by means of 1978’s Again to Earth.

READ MORE: High 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 touring with Fairport Conference’s Richard Thompson, lastly becoming a member of the group in 1998. Conway appeared on 9 Fairport Conference albums, from 1999’s The Wooden and the Wire by means of 2020’s Shuffle and Go — many years after taking part in on three songs from the band’s 1973 album Rosie. Conway left the group in 2022 after being recognized with MND.

Stevens additionally paid tribute to Conway over the weekend, writing on social media: “Sadly my nice previous drummer, Gerry Conway, simply handed away. What a lad, and what ingenuity and elegance. Might God grant him the gorgeous reward of peace eternal.”