The rock malcontent who made drummers stars

Ginger Baker’s personality was as explosive as his drumming. Considered the finest sticksman of his era, Baker joined guitarist Eric Clapton and bassist Jack Bruce in 1966 to form rock’s first supergroup: Cream. Blending blues and psychedelic sounds on hit singles such as “Sunshine of Your Love” and “White Room,” the British trio practically invented heavy rock. And Baker—behind two bass drums so he could play with both feet, plus snares, tom-toms, and up to nine cymbals— became the first drummer outside of jazz to be regarded as a virtuoso. His wild, formidable technique would inspire generations of rock drummers, and his wild lifestyle would set the template for the rock ’n’ roll hell-raiser. Baker bedded groupies, attacked his bandmates—he once pulled a knife on Bruce onstage because he thought the bassist was playing too loud during his drum solo—and quit heroin 29 times. “I was reported dead several times,” he said, “including once when I was driving a Shelby Cobra with three tasty chicks, and the radio station announced I’d been found dead in my hotel room from a heroin overdose.”

Peter Baker was born into poverty in London, earning the nickname Ginger for his flaming red hair, said The Times (U.K.). He was 4 years old when his father, Frederick, was killed in action in World War II; Frederick left behind a letter telling his son that his fists would be his “best pals.” As a teenager, Baker joined a gang, stole records, and took up drumming, talking his way into a traditional jazz combo at age 16. He became a mainstay on the London jazz scene, where he learned to sight-read music, play complex time signatures—and shoot heroin. By the early 1960s, “American R&B was sweeping England,” said RollingStone.com, and Baker began playing with Bruce in blues bands. Clapton, Baker, and Bruce eventually came together, naming their band Cream because they considered “themselves three of the best players in the British rock scene.”

The group was a sensation, selling 35 million records in two years, said The New York Times. But animosity between Baker and Bruce led Cream to disband in 1968 “at the height of its success.” Baker joined Clapton and Traffic keyboardist Steve Winwood in the supergroup Blind Faith the following year. But that band folded after one LP, partly because Baker’s drug problems were rubbing off on Clapton. “From the 1970s on, Baker was even more unpredictable,” said The Wall Street Journal. He moved to Nigeria—where he recorded with Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti—took up polo, and divorced his first wife, Liz Finch, after she caught him sleeping with a friend of their teenage daughter. “If a plane went down and there was one survivor, it would be Ginger,” she later said. “The devil takes care of his own.”

Seeking escape from his drug and financial worries, in 1982 he exiled himself to southern Italy, “where he toiled on an olive farm,” said The Washington Post. A 2005 Cream reunion tour boosted his fortunes, but Baker blew the money on a stable of polo ponies in South Africa and had to return to England. His only regret was that he would be remembered as a rock, not a jazz, drummer. “I started off as a jazz player, and I don’t think I’ve played anything else,” he said. “Well, I did have some delvings into horrific music—for money.”