Jet Black, drummer and a founding member of English punk rock band the Stranglers, died Tuesday at his home in North Wales. He was 84.
“He hadn’t been too well for a while,” bandmate Baz Warne explained, in a statement, “but when I spoke to him most recently, three weeks ago, he was laughing and wanting to hear all the news…still interested and involved.
“It’s been my privilege to have known and worked with him, and to have called him a friend, and I’ll miss him until the end of my days.”
Bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel called Black “a force of nature” and said the Stranglers “would not have been if it wasn’t for him.”
Born Brian Duffy, Black played drums in jazz bands in the 1960s and was a successful businessman (he owned a fleet of ice cream trucks) when the Stranglers were formed in early 1974.
“He threw everything in his previous life out, to dedicate himself to our common goal,” recalled founding frontman Hugh Cornwell, in a statement. “The Stranglers’ success was founded on his determination and drive.”
Manager Sil Willcox echoed Cornwell. “He was the Jet force that launched the Stranglers. He was the Jet force that powered the band’s determination to get heard and get noticed,” he said. “Jet Black was the real deal. Astute in business, a talented drummer and an obsessive perfectionist.”
The Stranglers’ debut album Rattus Norvegicus came out in 1977 and they went on to release more than a dozen others and found success with songs like “Golden Brown,” “No More Heroes” and “Peaches.”
Black, who suffered respiratory issues since childhood, stepped away from the band in 2007 due to heart problems but returned to touring in 2010. He finally retired in 2015.
In addition to writing two books about his time in the Stranglers, Black designed furniture and patented the Jet Black Power Bass Drum Pedal.
He is survived by wife Ava and children Charlotte and Anthony.