John Gary Driscoll (18 April 1946 – 8 June 1987) was an American R&B-style rock drummer who performed in a number of successful bands from the 1960s until his unsolved death by murder on June 10, 1987. He first entered the music scene when he joined Ronnie Dio and The Prophets in June 1965, fronted by Ronnie James Dio. The band transformed into The Electric Elves, The Elves, and finally

Elf An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "ligh ...

in 1969, releasing a few singles along the way. They were eventually discovered by Deep Purple bassist

Roger Glover Roger David Glover (born 30 November 1945) is a Welsh bassist, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the member of the hard rock bands Deep Purple and Rainbow. As a member of Deep Purple, Glover was inducted into the Rock and R ...

who went on to produce two of Elf's three studio albums. Elf disbanded in 1975 when Gary Driscoll, Ronnie James Dio, Micky Lee Soule (Elf's keyboardist), and Craig Gruber (their bassist) were recruited by Deep Purple guitarist

Ritchie Blackmore Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English guitarist and songwriter. He was a founding member of Deep Purple in 1968, playing jam-style hard rock music that mixed guitar riffs and organ sounds. He is prolific in creating guita ...

to form the rock band

Rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

. Driscoll was dismissed from Rainbow shortly after their debut album, entitled ''

Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow ''Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow'' (sometimes stylised ''Ritchie Blackmore's R-A-I-N-B-O-W'') is the debut studio album by American/British rock band Rainbow, released in 1975. Recording During studio sessions in Tampa Bay, Florida on 12 December ...

'', was recorded. It is speculated that firing Gary was simply due to his R&B style of drumming, which did not sit well with Blackmore. Driscoll was later replaced with British hard rocker,

Cozy Powell Cozy Powell (born Colin Trevor Flooks; 29 December 1947 – 5 April 1998) was an English rock drummer who made his name with major rock bands and artists such as The Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Gary Moore, Robert Plant, B ...

. After his departure from Rainbow, Driscoll played in the band Dakota (1978–1980, from Scranton, Pa. formally the Jerry Kelly Band), before starting

Bible Black is an eroge video game developed by ActiveSoft and published on July 14, 2000. Sei Shoujo is the original creator of the game's artwork, character design and penned the original script for the game. Milky Studio has since adapted the ga ...

with Craig Gruber, future

Blue Cheer Blue Cheer was an American rock band that initially performed and recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was sporadically active until 2009. Based in San Francisco, Blue Cheer played in a psychedelic blues rock or acid rock style, and ...

guitarist Duck MacDonald and singer Jeff Fenholt. This band released the albums ''Ground Zero'' and, with a few other musicians, ''Thrasher'', neither of which sold well. Driscoll found a day job, and made a little extra money on the side as a session musician. Driscoll was found murdered in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named ...

on June 8, 1987. Details of his murder remain blurred and his murder unsolved. There is evidence to suggest that the murder was carried out by more than one person; one man who was accused was later acquitted while the chief suspect fled the USA before being charged.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Driscoll, Gary 1946 births 1987 deaths 1987 murders in the United States 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American drummers American heavy metal drummers American male drummers American murder victims Musicians from Ithaca, New York Rainbow (rock band) members Elf (band) members Murder in New York (state) Unsolved murders in the United States

See also

References