Cozy Powell

Colin Trevor Flooks (Cozy Powell) was born in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, on 29 December 1947 and was adopted. He never knowingly met his birth parents. He started playing drums aged 12 in the school orchestra, thereafter playing along in his spare time to popular singles of the day. The first band Powell was in, the Corals, played each week at the youth club in Cirencester. They also played at a youth club in Latton, from Cirencester. During this time the band broke the world record for non-stop playing without playing the same song twice. Aged 15, Cozy had already worked out an impressive drum solo. The stage name Cozy was borrowed from the jazz drummer Cozy Cole. His last name Powell was taken from his adoptive mother's maiden name. ==Career==

The semi-professional circuit was next with The Sorcerers, a vocal-harmony pop band. The track featured Suzi Quatro on bass. Powell's second hit during 1974 was with "The Man in Black", which reached 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 (guitar), Clive Chaman (bass), Don Airey (keyboards) and Frank Aiello (Bedlam) on vocals. Clive Chaman 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. Sharing a love of the power-trio set up (Cream), Cozy Powell formed a band with guitarist Clem Clempson and bassist Greg Ridley (Humble Pie), but when this fell apart Cozy temporarily quit the music business to take up motorcycle racing. His desire to launch a three-piece in the vein of Cream remained; recordings with Tipton, Entwistle & Powell are testament to this as much as sessions with Cream's Jack Bruce and on guitar Uli Jon Roth, briefly after recording for Cinderella: "to get him (Uli Roth) had been the idea of Larry Mazer (at the time manager of Cinderella), Jack met him, but at the time Uli was busy with a symphony. I don't think it would have worked, we had him in mind as well as some other people, like Gary Moore, ideally Jeff Beck really", followed by Clem Clempson, Pat Travers and Pat Thrall with whom they recorded, shopped for a deal - unsuccessfully—until Powell would join Black Sabbath. 1975–1980: Rainbow In 1975, Powell joined Rainbow. 1980–1983: Bonnet, Michael Schenker, Phenomena After leaving Rainbow, Powell again worked with vocalist Graham Bonnet, their most notable single being "Night Games" from Bonnet's solo album Line-Up, which reached number 6 in the UK singles chart. For the rest of the 1980s, Powell assumed short-term journeyman roles with a number of major bands including The Michael Schenker Group. Powell and Neil Murray were members of Brian May's band, playing on the Back to the Light and Another World albums. He 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. ==Death==

Powell died on 5 April 1998 following a car crash while driving his Saab 9000 at in bad weather on the M4 motorway near Bristol. Upset, she phoned him and asked him to come quickly to her house which was approximately 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 she then heard him say "Oh shit!" followed by a loud bang. ==Posthumous releases==

In October 2005, Powell made a "new" appearance on an album. Former Black Sabbath vocalist Tony Martin released a studio album (Scream), and on it is a track named "Raising Hell". This was a track Powell had recorded the drum track for when he and Martin were in Hammer in 1992, and gave to Martin 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. ==Band timeline (not including session work)==

Text in bold indicates solo work. • The Corals (1964–1966) • The Sorcerers (1966–1968) • Youngblood (1968) • The Ace Kefford Stand (1968–1969) • Big Bertha (1969–1970) • The Jeff Beck Group (1970–1972) • Bedlam (1972–1973) • Cozy Powell (1973–1974, 1979–1983, 1992, 1998) • '''Cozy Powell's Hammer''' (1974–1975, 1992–1993) • Rainbow (1975–1980) • Graham Bonnet (1980–1981) • Michael Schenker Group (1980–1982) • Whitesnake (1982–1985) • Phenomena (1984–1987) • Emerson, Lake & Powell (1985–1986) • CAJO (1986) • Pete York/Cozy Powell (1987) • Blue Murder (1987) • Forcefield (1987–1990) • Black Sabbath (1988–1991, 1994–1995) • The Brian May Band (1991–1992, 1993–1994, 1998) • Tipton, Entwistle & Powell (1994–1997) • Peter Green Splinter Group (1996–1998) • Yngwie Malmsteen (1997–1998) • The Snakes (1998) ==Discography==

Guest appearances and sessions • Tony Joe White – Swamp Music: The Complete Monument Recordings (2006) – Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 • Ed Welch – Clowns (1971) • Harvey Andrews – Writer of Songs (1972) • Julie Felix – ''Clotho's Web'' (1972) • Donovan – Cosmic Wheels (1973) • Chick Churchill – You and Me (1973) • Murray Head – Nigel Lived (1973) • Tony Ashton and Jon Lord – First of the Big Bands (1974) • Bob Sargeant – The First Starring Role (1974) • Peter Sarstedt – Every Word You Say (1975) • Various – Peter and the Wolf (1975) - including Phil Collins, Brian Eno, Gary Moore, Alvin Lee, Chris Spedding, etc. • Hot Chocolate – XIV Greatest Hits (1976) • Bernie Marsden – And About Time Too! (1979) • Bernie Marsden – Look at Me Now (1981) • Jon Lord – Before I Forget (1982) • Robert Plant – Pictures at Eleven (1982) • Phenomena – Phenomena (1985) • Roger Daltrey – Under a Raging Moon (1985) • Boys Don't Cry – Who the Am Dam do You Think We Am (1987) • Sanne Salomonsen – Ingen Engel (Danish Version) / No Angel (English Version) (1987) • Warlock – Triumph and Agony (1987) • Pete York – Super Drumming Vol. 1 (1987) • Cinderella – Long Cold Winter (1988) • James Darby – Southern Region Breakdown (1988) • Don Airey – K2 – Tales of Triumph and Tragedy (1988) • Gary Moore – After the War (1989) • Minute By Minute – Timewatch (1989) • Ritchie Blackmore – Rock Profile Vol. 2 (1991) • Various Artists – In From The Storm – The Music of Jimi Hendrix (1995) • Glenn Tipton – Baptizm of Fire (1997) • S.A.S. Band – SAS Band (1997) • Colin Blunstone – The Light Inside (1998) • Ace Kefford – Ace The Face (2003) • Tony Martin – Scream (2005) • Pete York – Super Drumming Vol. 3 (2008) ==Motor racing and TV appearances==

Powell had a fascination with fast cars and motorbikes, and raced a Mazda RX3 sponsored by Hitachi on the UK saloon car circuit for a few months in the mid-seventies. He was quoted as saying in an interview, "I drive like I drum – madly". ==See also==