“Goodbye Stranger”: The heart of Supertramp: Rick Davies is dead

Rick Davies believed that he was very lucky. “You have to wake up every morning and thank your stars,” said the Supertramp founder. “I find it quite strange when rock people are freaking out. It makes no sense. We live a privileged life.”

The world -famous musician died on Saturday after a long illness at the age of 81. This was shared by Supertramp on her website, Universal Music confirmed death. “His soulful singing and his unmistakable game on the Wurlitzer organ became the heartbeat of the band sound,” said the band. “Rick was known away from the stage for his warmth, his resistance and devotion to his wife Sue, with whom he shared over five decades of his life.”

The singer has suffered from bone marrow cancer for almost exactly a decade, and recently he seemed a little recovered. Occasionally he and his band Ricky and the Rockets gave small concerts in his adopted home Long Island. With Supertramp, Davies celebrated numerous world hits such as “Dreamer”, “Bloody Well Right” or “Goodbye Stranger”.

Davies was born in 1944 in a family of workers in Swindon, a city in southwestern England. He originally wanted to be a drummer. First, a biscuit box had to serve as a drums until he was allowed to play in the brass band of the railroaders with twelve. When he found out that the local bands had needed blues pianists, he taught himself to play the piano.

The advertisement that changed everything

His mother Betty, who led a hairdressing salon, said about the achievements of her offspring: “Music was the only one he was good at school.” As a teenager, Davies founded his first own band, Rick’s Blues. By advertisement in the British musician leaf “Melody Maker” in August 1969, he finally searched for fellow campaigners for a “real opportunity”.

So he found the second lead singer and songwriter Roger Hodgson, whose striking, high voice was the perfect addition to Davies’ dark baritone. As a songwriter, Davies provided the groove, the blues and the more progressive elements, Hodgson for the radio -compatible melodies. The duo developed an unmistakable, brilliant sound.

Supertramp became one of the most famous rock groups in the late 70s. The quintet filled stadiums and sold millions of records. Milestones are the albums “Crime of the Century” (1974), the Milliontler “Breakfast in America” ​​(1979), which topped the charts for 15 weeks and gave the band cult status, as well as the live album “Paris” from the same year.

Separation from co -founder Hodgson

At the level of her success, however, Hodgson left the band for a solo career in 1983. The reason for this is not entirely clear to this day, since Davies’ and Hodgson’s versions sound very different. What is certain is that their relationship had deteriorated for years, there was a dispute over the rights to the songs and money.

Supertramp continued without Hodgson. But it was a turning point. In 1985 the band had another hitalbum with “Brother Where You Bound”, but the success slowly decreased. The loss of the idiosyncratic Hodgson could never be fully compensated with other singers.

Attempts at reunification failed in later years. Negotiations for the 40th band anniversary, according to Hodgson in 2010, dropped out of his own statement. The tour took place without it – and became unplanned on the farewell tour.

Rick Davies finally had to cancel another European tour with Supertramp because of his illness. The hope of fans for reunification was no longer fulfilled. Supertramp-Saxophonist John Helliwell published 15 supertramp songs this year, which he had re-recorded with a big band-but exclusively instrumental, without the iconic singing of Davies.