Bruce Rowland (22 May 1941 – 29 June 2015) was an English rock drummer best known for his memberships of

The Grease Band The Grease Band was a British rock band that originally formed as Joe Cocker's backing group. They appeared with Cocker during the 1960s, including his performance at the Woodstock Festival in August 1969. The band's name derived from an inte ...

and

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...

band

Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Martin Lamble after their first gig.) They started o ...

. He was also a prolific

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

Early career

Rowland was born at Park Royal,

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

, on 22 May 1941. In 1968, he played drums on the Wynder K. Frog album "''Out of the Frying Pan''", and in 1969 joined

, who were then Joe Cocker's backing band. He played for Cocker's performance at the

Woodstock Festival Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aquar ...

, on Cocker's second album, ''

Joe Cocker! ''Joe Cocker!'' is the second studio album by English singer Joe Cocker, released in November 1969. Following the template of his first LP, the album features numerous covers of songs originally performed by Bob Dylan ("Dear Landlord"), the B ...

'', and on the UK top ten hit single "

Delta Lady Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also re ...

". In 1970, Cocker and the Grease Band parted company, and Rowland stayed with the latter for their albums ''The Grease Band'' (1971) and ''Amazing Grease''. During this period, Rowland also played session for

Shawn Phillips Shawn Phillips (born February 3, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter and musician, primarily influential in the 1960s and 1970s. His work is rooted in folk rock but straddles other genres, including jazz fusion and funk. Phillips has re ...

, Andy Mackay,

Jackie Lomax John Richard Lomax (10 May 1944 – 15 September 2013) was an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. He is best known for his association with George Harrison, who produced Lomax's recordings for the Beatles' Apple record label in the late 1 ...

, Gallagher and Lyle, and others, also contributing drums to the original recording of ''Jesus Christ Superstar''. He spent some time with

Ronnie Lane Ronald Frederick Lane (1 April 1946 – 4 June 1997) was an English musician and songwriter who is best known as the bass guitarist and founding member of Small Faces (1965–69) and subsequently Faces (1969–73). Lane formed Small Faces ...

's Slim Chance, including his solo debut album, '' Anymore for Anymore'', and the Lane/

Ronnie Wood Ronald David Wood (born 1 June 1947) is an English rock musician, best known as an official member of the Rolling Stones since 1975, as well as a member of Faces and the Jeff Beck Group. Wood began his career in 1964, playing guitar with a ...

soundtrack album '' Mahoney's Last Stand'' before becoming a full-time sessionist.

Fairport Convention years

Rowland's involvement with

began in 1972, a particularly turbulent year for them, during which they had three drummers. His contributions later appeared on the unreleased, but much

bootleg Bootleg or bootlegging most often refers to: * Bootleg recording, an audio or video recording released unofficially * Rum-running, the illegal business of transporting and trading in alcoholic beverages, hence: ** Moonshine, or illicitly made ...

ged ''The Manor Album''. The arrangement became more formal during the recording of ''

Rising for the Moon ''Rising for the Moon'' is the tenth studio album by the British folk rock band Fairport Convention, released in 1975. It reached number 52 in the UK albums charts. This was the last Fairport album to feature vocalist Sandy Denny. Historical p ...

'' (1975), when

Dave Mattacks David James Mattacks (born 13 March 1948) is an English rock and folk drummer. Best known for his work with Fairport Convention, Mattacks has also worked both as a session musician and as a performing artist. Apart from playing the drums, he ...

left the band during the recording sessions, due to differences between himself and producer Glyn Johns. Following a tour, during which roadie Paul Warren played the drums, Johns suggested Bruce Rowland as a permanent replacement for Mattacks. By the following album, ''

Gottle O'Geer ''Gottle O'Geer'' (credited to "Fairport" and to "Fairport Featuring Dave Swarbrick" in the US) is the eleventh studio album by English folk rock band Fairport Convention. The album was released through Island Records in May 1976. The departu ...

'', Rowland had become a full member of the band and his contributions extended beyond drums to keyboards and backing vocals, and this continued with the two succeeding studio albums '' The Bonny Bunch of Roses'' and '' Tipplers Tales'', and the 1979 live album '' Farewell Farewell''. Rowland also worked as a session musician, appearing on

Bryn Haworth Bryn Haworth (born 29 July 1948) is a British Christian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and pioneer of Jesus music in mainstream rock. Born in Blackburn, Lancashire, UK, he has released some twenty-two albums and several singles since the 1970s ...

's 1975 album '' Sunny Side of the Street''. Fairport took a break apart from playing concerts between 1979 and 1985 and during this period Rowland (sometimes at the same time as Mattacks) provided drums for these performances; he appears on the live album of the 1981 reunion, '' Moat on the Ledge''. Rowland later quit the music business and moved to Denmark. He spent his later years in Brixham,

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

. He had a paint business and later sold it to retire and concentrate on creating a retirement home for himself and Barbara. He died on 29 June 2015 of cancer, aged 74, not long after marrying his long term companion Barbara. Following his death, some of his musical instruments have been auctioned in aid of Rowcroft Hospice.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowland, Bruce 1941 births 2015 deaths English rock drummers People from Park Royal Fairport Convention members British folk rock musicians English session musicians English expatriates in Denmark Deaths from cancer Deaths from cancer in England The Grease Band members