Colin Flooks, better known as Cozy Powell,
was an English rock drummer, who made his
name with many major rock bands like The Jeff
Beck Group, Rainbow, Whitesnake and Black
Sabbath.
Early history
Cozy Powell was born in Cirencester, Gloucestershire,
England, and started playing drums at age
12 in the school orchestra, thereafter playing
along in his spare time to popular singles
of the day. The first band he was in, called
the Corals, played each week at the youth
club in Cirencester. At age 15 he had already
worked out an impressive drum solo. The stage
name 'Cozy' was borrowed from the jazz drummer
Cozy Cole.
Semi-professional
The semi-professional circuit was next, with
semi-pro outfit The Sorcerers, a vocal harmony
pop band. The late nights and usual on-the-road
exploits began to affect his education, and
Powell left to take an office job to finance
the purchase of his first set of Premier drums.
The Sorcerers performed in the German club
scene of the 1960s. By 1968 the band had returned
to England, basing themselves around Birmingham.
Powell struck up friendships with fellow musicians
like Robert Plant and John Bonham, future
Slade vocalist Noddy Holder, bassist Dave
Pegg and a young Tony Iommi. The Sorcerers
now became Young Blood, and a series of singles
were released in late 1968–69. The group
then linked up with the Move bassist/singer
Ace Kefford to form The Ace Kefford Stand.
Five recorded tracks are available on the
Ace Kefford album 'Ace The Face' released
by Sanctuary Records in 2003. Powell also
began session work. Powell with fellow Sorcerers
Dave and Denny Ball formed Big Bertha.
Isle of Wight 1970 and Jeff Beck
Powell also played with swamp rocker Tony
Joe White at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970.
Powell then landed the then highly prestigious
drumming job with Jeff Beck's group in April
1970. Their first project was to record an
album of Motown covers in the USA. This was
never finished and remains unreleased. After
the recording of two albums, Rough and Ready
and Jeff Beck Group, the band fell apart.
1972–1974
In 1972 Powell drummed for two tracks on Harvey
Andrews' album Writer of Songs. By late 1972
he had joined up with the Ball brothers and
singer Frank Aiello to form Bedlam, whose
eponymous album was recorded for Chrysalis
and released in August 1973. Eventually Powell
abandoned Bedlam to record two singles including
"Dance with the Devil", which reached No.
3 in the UK singles chart during January 1974.
The song was his only solo hit in the United
States, peaking at No. 49. The track featured
Suzi Quatro on bass. Powell's second hit during
1974 was with "The Man in Black", which reached
a respectable No. 18. Arrows front man Alan
Merrill, also a RAK records artist, played
electric bass on '"The Man in Black'" and
the b-side '"After Dark." Jeff Beck's studio
producer was Mickie Most and Powell soon found
himself drafted into sessions for artists
signed to Most's RAK label, including Julie
Felix, Hot Chocolate, Donovan and Suzi Quatro.
To cash in on his chart success the drummer
formed Cozy Powell's Hammer in April 1974.
The line-up included Bernie Marsden, Clive
Chamen, Don Airey and Frank Aiello on vocals.
Clive Chamen was replaced on bass by Neil
Murray in the band in early 1975 for the RAK
Rocks Britain Tour. "Na Na Na" was a UK No.
10 hit, and another single "Le Souk" was recorded
but never released.
Rainbow
In 1975 he joined Rainbow. Powell and Ritchie
Blackmore were the only constants in the band's
line-up over the next five years, as Blackmore
evolved the sound of the band from a neo-classical
hard rock/heavy metal to a more commercial
AOR sound. Rainbow's 1979 Down to Earth LP
proved to be the band's most successful album
thus far; however, Powell was concerned over
the overtly commercial sound. Powell decided
to leave Rainbow, although not before they
headlined the first ever Monsters of Rock
show at Castle Donington, England on 16 August
1980. The festival was Powell's last show
with the band.
Post-Rainbow
1980–1989
After Powell left Rainbow he worked with vocalist
Graham Bonnet on Bonnet's new project called
Graham Bonnet & The Hooligans, their most
notable single being the UK top 10 single
"Night Games", also on Bonnet's solo Line
Up album. For the rest of the 1980s, Powell
assumed short-term journeyman roles with a
number of major bands – Michael Schenker
Group from 1981 to 1982, and Whitesnake from
1982 to 1985. In 1985 he started recording
with Phenomena for their self-titled first
album, which was released the same year, when
he joined up with Keith Emerson and Greg Lake
as a member of Emerson, Lake & Powell.
1989–1998
Powell worked with Gary Moore in 1989, followed
by stints with Black Sabbath from 1988 to
1991, and again in 1994–1995. Between late
1992 and early 1993, Powell put together an
occasional touring band using the old band
name 'Cozy Powell's Hammer' featuring himself
on drums, Neil Murray on bass, Mario Parga
on guitar and Tony Martin on vocals and occasional
rhythm guitar/synth module. The band performed
throughout Europe and appeared on German television.
Powell along with Neil Murray were members
of Brian May's band, playing on the Back to
the Light and Another World albums. Powell
played with May opening for Guns N' Roses
on the second American leg of their Use Your
Illusion tour in 1993. The duo also served
a spell with blues guitarist Peter Green in
the mid-nineties. Powell briefly joined Yngwie
Malmsteen for the album Facing the Animal
in 1997. Powell's last recording session was
for Colin Blunstone's The Light Inside, alongside
Don Airey, which was released shortly after
Powell's death. The final solo album by Cozy
Powell Especially for You was released in
1998 after his death, and featured American
vocalist John West, Neil Murray, Lonnie Park,
Michael Casswell and others.
Motor racing and TV appearances
Powell had a fascination with fast cars and
motorbikes, and raced for Hitachi on the UK
saloon car circuit for a few months. He made
headlines, when he appeared on the BBC children's
programme Record Breakers, where he set a
world record for the most drums played in
under one minute, live on television.
Death
Powell died on 5 April 1998 following a car
accident while driving his Saab 9000 at 104 mph
in bad weather on the M4 motorway near Bristol.
Powell was dating a married woman who was
having troubles with her husband. Upset, she
phoned him on 5 April 1998 and asked him to
come quickly to her house which was approximately
35 miles away. As he was driving to her house
she phoned him again and asked "Where are
you?" He informed her he was on his way and
then she heard him say "Oh shit!" followed
by a loud bang. Powell was ejected through
the windscreen and died at the scene. According
to the BBC report, at the time of the crash
Powell's blood-alcohol reading was over the
legal limit, and he was not wearing a seat
belt, in addition to talking with his girlfriend
on his mobile phone. The official investigation
also found evidence of a slow puncture in
a rear tyre that, it was suggested, could
well have caused a sudden collapse of the
tyre with a consequent loss of control of
the car.
He was living at Lambourn in Berkshire at
the time and had returned to the studio shortly
before his death to record with Fleetwood
Mac co-founder Peter Green. At the time of
death Cozy had recently had to pull out of
tour rehearsals with Yngwie Malmsteen, having
suffered an injury in a motorcycle accident.
One of his last phone calls, to his fanclub
editor, was to express distress about this,
but also enthusiasm of the then forthcoming
Brian May tour. By that time, he had been
the drummer on at least 66 albums with minor
contributions on many other recordings. Many
rock drummers have cited him as a major influence.
Posthumous releases
In October 2005 Powell made a "new" appearance
on an album. Former Black Sabbath vocalist
Tony Martin released a studio album, and on
it is a track named "Raising Hell". This was
a track Powell had recorded the drum track
for when he and Tony were in Hammer in 1992,
and gave to Tony for "future use". There are
apparently as many as 19 additional drum tracks
also recorded that could turn up in the future.
Judas Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton has also
released material recorded during the 1997
Baptizm of Fire sessions; this 2006 collection,
entitled Edge of the World, was released under
the moniker of Tipton, Entwistle & Powell
in memory of John Entwistle and Powell.
New York drummer Ken Serio played a tribute
to Cozy Powell on his highly acclaimed Through
the Gate CD covering several songs from Cozy's
instrumental solo albums including the Bernie
Marsden penned "El Sid" from Cozy's Over the
Top album.
Band timeline
Text in bold indicates solo work
The Sorcerers
Youngblood
The Ace Kefford Stand
Big Bertha
The Jeff Beck Group
Bedlam
Cozy Powell
Cozy Powell's Hammer
Rainbow
Cozy Powell
Graham Bonnet & the Hooligans
Cozy Powell
Michael Schenker Group
Cozy Powell
Whitesnake
Emerson, Lake & Powell
Pete York/Cozy Powell
Black Sabbath
The Brian May Band
Cozy Powell
Cozy Powell's Hammer
The Brian May Band
Black Sabbath
Peter Green Splinter Group
Tipton, Entwistle and Powell
Yngwie Malmsteen
The Brian May Band
Peter Green Splinter Group
The Snakes
Discography
See also
Cozy Powell Forever – tribute album to Cozy
Powell
References
Record Collector magazine No. 203
BBC obituary
External links
Official Cozy Powell web site
Cozy Powell at Find a Grave
Bio on Drummerworld.com
