Graeme Edge, Original Moody Blues Drummer, Co-Founder, Dies In Bradenton At 80

BRADENTON, FL — Graeme Edge, original drummer and co-founder of the British progressive rock band the Moody Blues, has died at the age of 80.

“It’s a very sad day. Graeme’s sound and personality is present in everything we did together and thankfully that will live on,” front man Justin Hayward shared on the Moody Blues’ Facebook page Thursday.

He added, “Graeme was one of the great characters of the music business and there will never be his like again.”

Edge had called Bradenton home since the 1970s, according to the Bradenton Herald.

The drummer got his start as a band manager in the United Kingdom, working with a group called Blue Rhythm Band, according to his biography on the Moody Blues website.

“Graeme always watched the drummer in the group and fooled around on the drums, but never really drummed professionally until that drummer quit and he had to fill in,” the Moody Blues said. “He played with the group for three weeks until a replacement was found and then bought his own kit and went to work in earnest.”

He formed several bands, including Gerry Levene and the Avengers, before founding The M & B 5, which later changed its name to the Moody Blues, in Birmingham, England.

“In the late 1960s, we became the group that Graeme always wanted it to be, and he was called upon to be a poet as well as a drummer,” Hayward said. “He delivered that beautifully and brilliantly, while creating an atmosphere and setting that the music would never have achieved without his words. I asked Jeremy Irons to recreate them for our last tours together and it was absolutely magical.”

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The band’s first album, “The Magnificent Moodies,” was released in 1965. It’s known for hits like “Nights in White Satin,” “Tuesday Afternoon” and “I’m Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)”.

The Moody Blues have sold more than 70 million albums worldwide and have been awarded 14 platinum and gold records, the band said. They were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2008.

Edge also released two solo releases during his career.

In a statement on the band’s website, bassist John Lodge said, “Sadly Graeme left us … To me he was the White Eagle of the North with his beautiful poetry, his friendship, his love of life and his ‘unique’ style of drumming that was the engine room of the Moody Blues. I will miss you Graeme.”