Colin Petersen, best known as the original drummer for the Bee Gees, has died at 78, according to reports.
A key figure in the band’s early years, Petersen played a crucial role in shaping the sound that propelled the Bee Gees to global fame. During his time with the group, Colin contributed to iconic hits like “Massachusetts,” “To Love Somebody,” and “Words,” as well as their early groundbreaking albums, including Bee Gees’ 1st.
Before joining the Bee Gees, Petersen was a child actor in Australia, appearing in notable films such as Smiley (1956) and The Scamp (1957). Transitioning from acting to music, he became the first non-Gibb member of the Bee Gees to officially join the band.
In a 2022 interview with Jason Barnard on The Strange Brew Podcast, Petersen described the group’s recording process as spontaneous and collaborative, with the group often crafting songs from scratch together in the studio
He said: As time went on we would arrive in the studio with no song and I would have that opportunity of just sitting with them suggesting different tempos and stuff like that.
“I think the fact that a lot of those tracks came from nothing gave the tracks a real spontaneity… We would work the songs up, the five of us as a team, and again I think that that’s why the songs sound so coordinated.”
Adding: “We never recorded separately. The only separate thing was the orchestra coming in after we got all our overdubs done. Oh my god, we spent some time in the studio I can’t tell you. Sometimes we would go in there for four hours, the Gibbs would come up with nothing and we’d just pack it in and go home. Then we’d try again another day and maybe the the creative juices were really running that night we might get down three backing tracks.”
On his approach to drumming, he said:”I was really quite imaginative with my playing, but there were a lot of lot of drummers at the time that were technically much more advanced than I was. Look, Chuck Berry only probably knew four chords, right? So sometimes when you’re limited you’ve got to be creative.. I think you can overdo the technique and you get to a stage where you can’t see the wood for the trees. I’ve always been a song guy with drumming.