Mott The Hoople drummer Dale Griffin has lost a 10 year battle with Alzheimers at age 67.
Griffin played in early Herefordshire bands with Overend Watts while attending Ross-on-Wye Grammar School and in 1966 added Mick Ralphs to their band. In 1968 Verden Allen joined and then in 1969 they moved to London, met and added Ian Hunter to the line-up and changed their name to Mott The Hoople.
Mott The Hoople recorded seven albums. It was the song ‘All The Young Dudes’, written for them by their friend David Bowie, for which they are most remembered today.
Bowie also wrote ‘Drive-In Saturday’ for Mott The Hoople as a follow-up to ‘All The Young Dudes’ but Ian Hunter rejected it so Bowie recorded it himself on ‘Aladdin Sane’.
After Mott The Hoople split Griffin worked as a producer. He recorded the first professional session for Pulp, the song ‘Girl Called Sandoz’ for Smashing Pumpkins that appeared on ‘Pisces Iscariot’ as well as sessions with Nirvana and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark.
Griffin was diagnosed with Alzheimers a decade ago but still contributed to the Mott The Hoople 40th anniversary reunion in 2009. Because of his illness he only played in the encore for the five shows. Martin Chambers of The Pretenders played the main performance.
Dale Griffin died on January 17, 2016. He is survived by his partner Jean Smith.
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