Former Cure drummer Andy Anderson dies
27 February 2019, 00:13 | Updated: 27 February 2019, 00:20
The musician, who played on the classic single The Love Cats, has lost his battle with cancer.
Drummer Andy Anderson, who performed with The Cure on singles including The Love Cats and The Caterpillar, has died from cancer aged 68.
The news was confirmed by another former member of The Cure, Lol Tolhurst, in a tweet. He said: “Andy Anderson was a true gentleman and a great musician with a wicked sense of humour which he kept until the end - a testament to his beautiful spirit on the last journey. We are blessed to have known him.”
It's with a heavy heart, I have to report the passing of a Cure brother.
— Lol Tolhurst (@LolTolhurst) February 26, 2019
Andy Anderson was A true gentleman and a great musician with a wicked sense of humor which he kept until the end, a testament to his beautiful spirit on the last journey. We are blessed to have known him.
It was only on 17 February that Anderson had revealed he had terminal cancer. He commented on Facebook: “Please, no boo-hooing here, just be positive. For me it’s just another life experience and hurdle.”
Hi guy’s, I am and I have Terminal 4 Cancer, and their is no way of returning back from that, it’s totally covering the...
Posted by Andy Anderson on Sunday, 17 February 2019
The news comes a month before The Cure are inducted into the Rock 'N' Roll Hall Of Fame and the band kick off a series of summer festival dates.
Anderson had been a session musician, performing with Hawkwind and Killing Joke offshoot Brilliant, before meeting Robert Smith in 1983. He joined The Cure as drummer, replacing Lol Tolhurst, who had moved to keyboards.
Initially, Anderson performed with The Cure for a TV appearance, but went on to play on frontman Robert Smith’s side project with Steve Severin of Siouxsie And The Banshees. Titled The Glove, the collaboration resulted in one album in 1983 and led to Anderson becoming part of The Cure’s line-up for live dates.
Anderson drummed on the classic 1983 Cure single The Love Cats and appears in the video as directed by Tim Pope.
The Cure - The Lovecats
When Robert Smith reconvened The Cure in 1984 to record a new album, The Top, Anderson provided the percussion - songs like Shake Dog Shake and Give Me It benefitted from his vibrant performance. Anderson toured the album with The Cure and his work also appears on the band’s live album, Concert.
The Cure - One Hundred Years (live, Glasgow 1984)
The stresses of touring with The Cure caught up with Anderson and he left the band in late 1984. In subsequent years, he continued performing as a session drummer for artists such as Iggy Pop, Peter Gabriel and many more. In later years, Andy contributed to the charity album Sex, Drugs and HIV and was still recording music up until his death.
