Terry Sullivan, drummer of Renaissance’s classic 1970s lineup, has died. The news was confirmed by Renaissance singer Annie Haslam, who is now the only surviving member of the band’s classic seventies lineup.
You can check out the full official statement at the bottom of this story.
Sullivan was born in London. He kicked off his career in Dry Ice, a band that shared stages with The Who, Pink Floyd, Spooky Tooth, King Crimson and The Groundhogs, and put out a single in 1969, Running To The Convent. The psychedelic rockers had a modest hit with it. The single came out on IBC, a subsidiary of Island Records. Dry Ice recorded enough material for a debut album shortly afterward, but it only saw the light of day in 2018.
After a stint playing in the US, Sullivan returned to the UK and became Renaissance’s drummer after answering an ad in Melody Maker. The first album he recorded with Renaissance was Prologue, released in 1972. Sullivan drummed on every Renaissance album after that up to and including “Azure d’Or” from 1979. Those include the band’s big classic “Scheherazade And Other Stories” from 1975 and the 1978 single Northern Lights, which made the top 10.
After recording “Azure d’Or,” Sullivan left Renaissance on principle, after the band fired his longtime friend, keyboardist John Tout. Renaissance reportedly let John Tout go over a mistake he made at one of their gigs. The two came back and played on the 2001 album “Tuscanny,” and Sullivan stuck around even longer, appearing on the live album “In the Land of the Rising Sun: Live in Japan,” released in 2002. Soon after, they parted ways, although Annie Haslam revived Renaissance again in 2009. In that lineup, guitarist Michael Dunford was the only other member left from the classic days alongside Haslam.
Sullivan also played with Good ‘ol Boys, a band that also found a home for former Deep Purple bassist Nick Simper, Warhorse guitarist Pete Parks and Ali McKenzie, singer of The Birds, Ronnie Wood’s lesser-known R&B outfit. On top of that, together with his wife Christine, John Tout and Betty Thatcher-Newsinger (known for writing the lyrics for Renaissance), he founded Renaissant, a band that stylistically echoed Rennaisance. Their only album, “South of Winter,” came out in 2005. The band also created enough material for a follow-up, but it never got released.
