Ginger Baker is �critically ill?in hospital, family says

[Mooshashi]

Rock legend Ginger Baker is �critically ill?in a hospital, according to a message from his family asking for �prayers.?br />
�The Baker family are sad to announce that Ginger is critically ill in hospital. Please keep him in your prayers tonight,?his official Twitter noted Wednesday.

No other details were given, but asked if it was �for real,?his account replied, �Sadly yes.?br />
Baker, 80, is still best known for his time with Eric Clapton in Cream, the short-lived ?0s psychedelic rock band whose classic tracks include �Sunshine of Your Love,?�Crossroads,?�Strange Brew?and �I Feel Free.?The trio�s other member, bassist Jack Bruce, died in 2014.

Baker stayed with Clapton to form Blind Faith with Steve Windwood, before moving to Lagos to play with Fela Kuti.

He has had a varied career since, playing in Hawkwind, John Lydon�s Public Image Ltd, as well as with jazz musicians like Charlie Haden and Bill Frisell. Rolling Stone named him No. 3 in the greatest drummers of all time.

[TBear]

Cream was a great band. Forgot Jack Bruce passed away. All three of them belong in the Rock and Roll HOF.

[GhostofDempsey]

I wonder how some of these guys make so far in life considering their lifestyles during their rock and roll years. He struggled a long time with alcoholism and heroin addiction, makes it to 80. Meanwhile there are people who exercise daily, watch their calories, and drop dead at 55. Sorry for the tangent, hope Ginger doesn't have to suffer very much longer. An ATG drummer.

[Redd Foxx]

A British friend of mine (who has since passed on) was on a plane with the group many years years ago and said Baker was a true wild man. That he lived up to his reputation.
Incredible to hear he's made it to 80.

[phallus]

Cream was a great band. Forgot Jack Bruce passed away. All three of them belong in the Rock and Roll HOF.

A British friend of mine (who has since passed on) was on a plane with the group many years years ago and said Baker was a true wild man. That he lived up to his reputation.
Incredible to hear he's made it to 80.

it's sad he has to die, but at least he had a great life.

[Mooshashi]

LONDON — Ginger Baker, the volatile and propulsive British musician who was best known for his time with the power trio Cream, died Sunday at age 80, his family said.

Baker wielded his blues power and jazz technique to help break open popular music and become one of the world’s most admired and feared musicians.

With blazing eyes, orange-red hair and a temperament to match, the London native ranked with The Who’s Keith Moon and Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham as the embodiment of musical and personal fury. Using twin bass drums, Baker fashioned a pounding, poly-rhythmic style uncommonly swift and heavy that inspired and intimidated countless musicians. But every beat seemed to mirror an offstage eruption — whether his violent dislike of Cream bandmate Jack Bruce or his on-camera assault of a documentary maker, Jay Bulger, whom he smashed in the nose with his walking stick.

Bulger would call the film, released in 2012, “Beware of Mr. Baker.”

Baker’s family said on Twitter that he died Sunday: “We are very sad to say that Ginger has passed away peacefully in hospital this morning.”

His daughter Nettie confirmed that Baker died in Britain but gave no other details. The family had said on Sept. 25 that Baker was critically ill in the hospital.