Clem Burke, Versatile, Hard-Driving Drummer for Blondie, Dies at 70

New York Times

07-04-2025

Clem Burke, whose energetic, versatile drumming provided the beat for the band Blondie as it churned out post-punk, disco and rock hits in the late 1970s and early '80s — and then again after the band re-formed in 1997 — died on Sunday. He was 70.
In a statement, the band said the cause was cancer. It did not say where he died.
Though Blondie is best remembered for its charismatic lead singer, Debbie Harry, Mr. Burke's relentless percussion was just as important to its success as one of the most popular American rock groups of its era.
He can be heard tumbling forth with a rapid disco beat in the intro to 'Call Me' (1980), only to switch to a tropical lilt on the reggae-inflected 'The Tide Is High' (1980).
Like other post-punk bands that slid into the New Wave movement — the Cars, Devo — Blondie was known as much for its image as for its substance. The band's album covers and press photos often featured Ms. Harry, with her angular face and wispy blonde hair, framed by her four male bandmates, usually in black suits and skinny ties.
Mr. Burke stood out with his boyish cheeks and vertiginous mop of hair. But he and the band were about more than their sharp looks: In one survey, Rolling Stone ranked him the 61st greatest drummer of all time.
'The American roots of rock 'n' roll — Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochrane — that was the foundation of what I loved from an early age,' Mr. Burke told Mixdown magazine last year. 'It just spiraled from there.'
He played on all 11 of Blondie's studio albums — six recorded between 1976 and 1982, and the rest after the band restarted in 1997.
The son of a professional drummer, Mr. Burke was already well known around the various music scenes of Lower Manhattan when, in 1974, he answered a want ad in The Village Voice placed by two musicians, Ms. Harry and the guitarist Chris Stein, looking for a drummer for their new band, Blondie.
Mr. Burke showed up for an interview wearing the shirt component of a sailor suit, a tribute to a look once sported by his idol, Keith Moon of the Who. The three bonded over their shared admiration for acts like David Bowie, Iggy Pop and the Velvet Underground. They soon added Gary Valentine on bass and Jimmy Destri on keyboards.
Within a year, the band was playing regularly at storied East Village venues like Max's Kansas City and CBGB, a musical archipelago where other bands in the punk, post-punk and New Wave movements found a home.
Blondie embraced all three genres, while breaking into the mainstream with radio- and dance-floor-friendly tracks like 'Heart of Glass' (1979) and 'Rapture' (1980), both of which reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts.
Thanks in part to Mr. Burke's infectious beats, the songs managed to embody a genre, and range beyond it, as well: 'Heart of Glass' is both pop and disco, while 'Rapture' borrowed heavily from a new style, hip-hop, that was then taking shape in the Bronx.
'Our records were always all over the place,' he told The Sarasota Herald-Tribune in 2004. 'I always admired bands that didn't stick to one particular style.'
Clement Anthony Bozewski was born on Nov. 24, 1954, in Bayonne, N.J. His father, Clement J. Bozewski, played in clubs around northern New Jersey, and his mother, Antoinette (Terracciano) Bozewski, managed the home.
Clem learned to drum from his father and played in school bands growing up. By his late teenage years he was crossing the Hudson River into New York, where he performed in a variety of rock bands before meeting Ms. Harry and Mr. Stein.
He styled himself as something of a throwback to the rock-star drummers of the 1960s, like Ringo Starr, John Bonham and Mr. Moon, who were known as much for their charisma onstage as for their virtuosity behind their kits.
Mr. Moon was his north star. Mr. Burke was just going onstage in 1978 when he learned that Mr. Moon had died, at 32; when the set was done, he kicked his drums into the crowd, shouting, 'That's for Keith Moon — the greatest drummer in the world!'
After a marathon run of six albums in just over six years, Blondie went on hiatus in 1982.
Over the next 15 years, Mr. Burke became an A-list session drummer, working with artists like Mr. Bowie, Eurythmics, Bob Dylan and Pete Townshend.
He played on classic songs like 'I Love Rock 'n' Roll,' by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and in 1987 he played two shows with the Ramones. Like the rest of the band, he chose a stage name: Elvis Ramone.
Mr. Burke also formed or joined a long series of bands, including Chequered Past, the International Swingers and the Plimsouls.
Information on survivors was not immediately available.
After Blondie reunited, the band released its seventh album, 'No Exit,' in 1999. This time the band was more heavily identified with Ms. Harry and Mr. Stein, and Mr. Valentine and Mr. Destri left after a few years, but Mr. Burke stayed on through the most recent album, 'Pollinator' (2017).
'Everybody around me seemed to think that becoming 'a rock star' was unobtainable, but I never felt that way,' he told Modern Drummer magazine in 1985. 'I felt that this was how I was going to be able to escape my working-class existence. I was on a quest to find the perfect lead singer. I always say that when I met Debbie, I sort of found my Mick Jagger.'