Robbie Bachman dies: Bachman-Turner Overdrive drummer and co-founder turned 69

Robbie Bachman, drummer and co-founder of the hit 1970s rock band Bachman-Turner Overdrive, has died. He turned 69.

His death was announced by his brother and bandmate, guitarist and singer Randy Bachman. A cause of death was not immediately available.

“Another sad departure,” Randy Bachman tweeted last night. “The pounding knock behind BTO, my little brother Robbie joined mum, dad and brother Gary on the other side. Maybe Jeff Beck needs a drummer! He was an integral part of our rock ‘n’ roll machine and together we turned the world upside down.”

Robin Peter Bachman has been playing drums since childhood and was recruited at the age of 18 by his older brother Randy, who had already achieved international success in the group The Guess Who. After Randy left that band in 1970, Randy formed a short-lived band called Brave Belt with 18-year-old Robbie on drums.

Brave Belt and other members, including bassist/vocalist Fred Turner and a third Bachman brother, Tim, soon changed the name to Bachman along with a musical style that evolved from country rock to what later became classic rock Turner Overdrive is.

BTO’s 1973 self-titled album featured the song “Blue Collar” which was played on FM radio, but that was the 1974 album. Bachmann Turner Overdrive II and Not fragile which would explode with hits like “Let It Ride,” “Takin’ Care of Business,” “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet,” and “Roll On Down The Highway.” The band released a total of eight albums during the 1970s and a self-titled set in 1984, on which Garry Peterson played drums.

BTO remained a top rock act throughout the 1970s, with Randy Bachman leaving the group in 1979 and returning occasionally until his retirement in 2004.