Gerry Conway, former drummer with Fairport Convention, Jethro Tull, Pentangle and more, has died at the age of 76. The news was confirmed in a news post on the Fairport Convention website.
“It is with great sadness that Fairport Convention announces the death of Gerry Conway, our dear friend and former drummer,” read the post. “Gerry died at the age of 76 on Friday 29 March after a period of illness.
Gerry served as Fairport’s drummer from 1998 until 2022. He brought to the band an impeccable understanding of ‘feel’ and comradeship, a unique sense of subtlety and a complete understanding of what was required.“
None of us knew that he was in the early stages of that pernicious horror Motor Neurone Disease,” wrote band founder Simon Nicol on Facebook. “I didn’t know until today, when news of his death filtered out from the protection and privacy he and Jacqui McShee [Conway’s wife, and Pentangle singer] sought and deserved.
Wonderfully patient and wise, infuriatingly tardy (!) but always ready and eager to play, and blessed with his own inner calm and solidity, I’m going to miss him more than I can say.“
Conway was born in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, in 1947, and was originally a staff musician at EMI before playing with British Blues legend Alexis Korner. He went on to work with Folk Rockers Eclection, before hooking up with Sandy Denny in Fortheringay, the group she founded after leaving Fairport Convention in 1970. He also performed with fellow Folkies Steeleye Span, on Sandy Denny‘s debut album, with Joan Armatrading, and on Cat Stevens‘ classic “Teaser and the Firecat” and “Catch Bull at Four” albums.
In the early 1980s, he joined Jethro Tull in time to play on 1982’s “The Broadsword and the Beast” album and also appeared on four tracks on the follow-up, the controversial Grammy Award-winner “Crest of a Knave.”