Ginger Baker
b. Peter Baker, 19 August 1939, Lewisham, London, England. This brilliantly erratic drummer was already a vastly experienced musician when he formed the legendary Cream, with Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce in 1967. He had drummed with trad-jazz bands, working with Terry Lightfoot and Acker Bilk before sitting in with Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated and enlisting in the seminal Graham Bond Organisation. Following the unprecedented success and speedy demise of Cream, Baker joined with Steve Winwood, Rick Grech and Clapton in the ‘supergroup’ Blind Faith, followed by the ambitious Airforce. Ginger then left Britain to live in Nigeria, where he cultivated an interest in African music and built his own recording studio ( Paul McCartney's classic BAND ON THE RUN was recorded there). He briefly had a Nigerian band, Salt, and recorded with Fela Ransome-Kuti. Baker reputedly lost all his money on his Nigerian adventure and returned to Britain and formed the Baker Gurvitz Army in 1973. Following their break-up he spent much of the next few years playing polo, an unlikely sport for a working-class lad from south London, but one at which he became most proficient. Baker's solo outing 11 SIDES OF BAKERwas justifiably panned in 1977. He sporadically returned with Energy in 1979 and briefly joined Atomic Rooster, Hawkwindand his own Ginger Baker's Nutters. In 1986 he played on PiL's UK Top 20 hit Rise. Since then he has been unable to make any major impression and is openly bitter at the phenomenal success of Clapton. He remains, mostly through his work with Cream, one of Britain's greatest rock legends; a temperamental man who at his best showed astonishing ability on drums. His rolling polyrythmic playing laid the future foundation for heavy rock drumming.