The family of musician Jack Bruce have paid tribute to his Cream band mate Ginger Baker, who has died aged 80.
Bruce’s family spoke of the pair’s ‘love hate relationship’ and described them as being like ‘brothers’.
They said in a tweet posted on Sunday: ‘The Bruce family would like to extend their sincere condolences to Ginger Baker’s family, friends and fans.
‘Surviving a love hate relationship, Ginger was like an older brother to Jack, their chemistry was truly spectacular. RIP Ginger, one of the greatest drummers of all time.’
Bruce, who was in Cream with Baker and Eric Clapton, died of liver disease in 2014 at the age of 71.
The Bruce family would like to extend their sincere condolences to Ginger Baker’s family, friends and fans. Surviving a love hate relationship, Ginger was like an older brother to Jack, their chemistry was truly spectacular. RIP Ginger, one of the greatest drummers of all time ❤️ pic.twitter.com/G9Pl4Qecdp
— Jack Bruce (@jackbrucemusic) October 6, 2019
The Beatles icon Paul McCartney also paid tribute to the drummer on Twitter.
He said: ‘Ginger Baker, great drummer, wild and lovely guy. We worked together on the “Band on the Run” album in his ARC Studio, Lagos, Nigeria. Sad to hear that he died but the memories never will. X Paul.’
Ginger Baker, great drummer, wild and lovely guy. We worked together on the ‘Band on the Run’ album in his ARC Studio, Lagos, Nigeria. Sad to hear that he died but the memories never will. X Paul pic.twitter.com/Rne4tn6A2i
— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) October 6, 2019
Baker’s death was confirmed at the weekend on his Twitter page.
The statement read: ‘We are very sad to say that Ginger has passed away peacefully in hospital this morning.
‘‘Thank you to everyone for your kind words over the past weeks.’
The 80-year-old musician found fame in the 1960s alongside Clapton and Bruce in the band Cream.
The act only performed together for three years, due to Baker’s volatile relationship with Bruce, but they remain one of the most influential bands of all time.
Their songs include I Feel Free, Strange Brew and Sunshine Of Your Love.
The family had revealed earlier on 26 September that Baker was ‘critically ill in hospital’.
‘Please keep him in your prayers tonight,’ the family shared on Twitter.
Baker, who turned 80 earlier in 2019, previously revealed in 2013 that years of heavy smoking had led to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was also suffering from chronic back pain from degenerative osteoarthritis.
In 2016 he underwent open-heart surgery, writing on his blog: ‘Just seen doctor… big shock… no more gigs for this old drummer… everything is off… of all things I never thought it would be my heart…’
Born 19 August 1939, he began playing drums at the age of 15 he 1954 and took lessons from Phil Seamen, one of the leading British jazz drummers of the post-war era.
He met Bruce when the pair both played in the Graham Bond Organisation, but during a car ride with acquaintance Clapton he asked the guitarist if he would want to start a new band together.
Clapton requested Bruce join them, despite knowing their bitter past, and they called themselves Cream because all three were considered the cream of the crop when it came to British musicians in the mid-1960s.
The band split due to tensions between all three members, and Baker went on to form Blind Faith with Clapton and Steve Winwood, before going on to front Ginger Baker’s Air Force which also included Winwood.
But his passion remained for African music – for which inspiration went into the four Cream albums produced – and he went on to set up a recording studio in Nigeria, and worked with Afro-beat pioneer Fela Kuti.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, he also worked with the likes of Gary Moore, Hawkwind and Atomic Rooster, and he was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as a member of Cream, and is also a member of the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame and the Classic Drummer Hall of Fame.
He reunited with Clapton and Bruce in 2005 for a series of Cream concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London and Madison Square Garden in New York.
Bruce was reported as later telling Rolling Stone that their relationship remained on a ‘knife-edge’ before adding that they were ‘happily co-existing in different continents although I was thinking of asking him to move… He’s still a bit too close’.
In 2014 he released his last album, Why?
Baker is survived by his three children, Ginette, Leda & Kofi, named after Ghanaian drummer Kofi Ghanaba.
