Rick Davies, one of the two co-founders, frontmen and chief songwriters of the British band Supertramp, which evolved from a progressive-rock group into an unexpected chart-topping ensemble with the album “Breakfast in America,” has died after a long battle with cancer, the band confirmed in a statement. He was 81
Davies, who wrote and sang such Supertramp hits as “Goodbye Stranger” and “Bloody Well Right,” had a deeper and less-distinctive voice than his erstwhile partner, Roger Hodgson, who wrote and sang the band’s biggest hit, “The Logical Song.” Yet it was he who continued the band after Hodgson split in 1983 over a variety of disputes, which began with creative differences but grew to include songwriting royalties and other matters, that carried on in court as recently as last month.
“The Supertramp Partnership is very sad to announce the death of the Supertramp founder, Rick Davies after a long illness,” the statement reads. “Rick passed away at his home on Long Island on September 5th. We had the privilege of knowing him, and playing with him for over fifty years. We offer our sincere condolences to Sue Davies.”
Davies was born in Swindon, England in 1944 and became obsessed with music at an early age, first as a drummer and later as a keyboardist. One of his early bands, Rick’s Blues, featured future “Alone Again, Naturally” singer Gilbert O’Sullivan on drums, who later acknowledged Davies as a key mentor. After performing with a series of bands, in 1969 he decided to form a new one, and Hodgson was one of the musicians who replied to his ad. Despite dramatic differences in their voices and backgrounds, they gelled musically and, after a brief period of being called Daddy, renamed themselves Supertramp in January of 1970.
The band signed with A&M and grew in popularity with each album, making its first breakthrough with the “Crime of the Century” album, powered by the Davies-penned single “Bloody Well Right.” Their success and profile grew with each successive album — including 1977’s “In the Quietest Moments,” which featured Hodgson’s hit “Give a Little Bit” — until they broke wide open with “Breakfast in America” album, released in the spring of 1979.
“The Logical Song” may have been written and sung by Hodgson, but it was driven by Davies’ prominent electric piano; he also wrote the answering refrain on the song’s last chorus. His song “Goodbye Stranger” was the album’s second hit single, and Supertramp were suddenly a globally popular band.
However, they did not sustain that success, and Hodgson left after falling out with the bandmembers in 1983, following the band’s seventh album, “… Famous Last Words…” Davies continued the band for four more albums, the final being 2002’s “Slow Motion,” and continued to perform as recently as 2022, although often under the name Ricky and the Rockets. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2015.
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