Legendary drummer BUDDY MILES has died of congestive heart failure aged just 60. Born GEORGE MILES in Omaha, Nebraska in 1947, his musical exposure was instant – his father led the BEBOPS JAZZ BAND and young GEORGE was soon attending shows, and by his teens his skills as a drummer won him gigs with the DELFONICS, OTIS REDDING and WILSON PICKETT. It was at a PICKETT show in Brooklyn in 1967 that he came to the attention of guitarist MIKE BLOOMFIELD who recruited him for his band ELECTRIC FLAG – an ambitious rock-soul aggregation. From there MILES went on to form his own band – the BUDDY MILES EXPRESS – before moving on to join JIMI HENDRIX in the BAND OF GYPSYS. After HENDRIX, he went back to leading his own group, the BUDDY MILES BAND, who cut the best seller, ‘Them Changes’. Gigs and session work followed, then, in 1986, a surprisingly lucrative entry into the world of TV ads. He featured on the commercials for the Californian Raisin Authority singing a version of ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’. In the 1990s MILES worked with BOOTSY COLLINS and in 2004 he formed another version of the BAND OF GYPSYS with original bassist BILLY COX. MILES’ death was announced on February 26th.
