Robbie Bachman, drummer and co-founder of Canadian rock group Bachman-Turner Overdrive, has died, his brother confirmed on Twitter.
"Another sad departure. The pounding beat behind BTO, my little brother Robbie has joined mum, dad & brother Gary on the other side," Randy Bachman wrote on Twitter.
He pointed out that Bachman's death closely follows that of British rock guitarist Jeff Beck, who died on Jan. 10 at 78 years old.
"Maybe Jeff Beck needs a drummer! He was an integral cog in our rock 'n' roll machine and we rocked the world together."
No cause of death was given. Bachman was 69.
The youngest of the four Bachman brothers, Robbie started the precursor to Bachman-Turner Overdrive, a band called Brave Belt, in 1971 with brother Randy, bassist Fred Turner and former The Guess Who frontman Chad Allan. They also added Tim Bachman, and in 1973 became Bachman-Turner Overdrive. By then, Allan was no longer a member of the band.
The group was rejected 24 times by labels before signing to Mercury Records. It went on to achieve significant commercial success with songs like 1973's "Takin' Care of Business," and "Let it Ride," 1974's "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" and 1975's "Hey You" and "Down to the Line."
In 2014, Bachman and other members of Bachman-Turner Overdrive were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame by astronaut Chris Hadfield at that year's Juno Awards in Winnipeg. Bachman filmed the induction on-stage with a handheld video camera.
"When would I ever be inducted to the Juno Hall of Fame? One time, and it's all on here," he said in an interview afterward with CTV News Winnipeg. Bachman lost the video camera at some point after the awards show, however when he asked staff at the Fairmont Hotel in Winnipeg about it the next day, he was touched to learn someone had returned it.
Speaking to CTV News Winnipeg, he questioned where else in the world besides Canada – which he described as "so friendly, so polite, so honest" – would someone return "a $2,000 video camera?"
"I can't say enough," he said. "Thank you. Whoever returned this, thank you so much."
Fans of the band took to Twitter to share tributes to Bachman Friday.
