By: Wizard Of Roz
Cozy did it all! He played the hardest metal, coolest blues, progressive rock and all-out straight, good old R’n’R. Most people would argue that there is a difference between these various styles of music and yes, maybe to a certain degree there is. For example: if you liked E.L.P., you did NOT like Whitesnake; if you liked Black sabbath, you did not like E.L.P. But Cozy didn’t care, he played with all these people and billions more, and somehow still made solo albums.
Cozy Powell not only made history but also made it into The Guinness Book of World Records. (I believe it was around ‘84 or ‘85, he played “The most drums in a beat in one single room under 2 minuets” My facts might not be straight but it's documented that he was in it!) That’s amazing!
Anyone who had the pleasure of seeing him would immediately notice that he was just an all powerful drummer. Not only did he have an outrageous drum set (huge!) but everything was huge; toms, bass drums and massive giant cymbals. What baffled me was how far apart he had his cymbals. I don’t know to this day, how he could have reached them. The best example would be his video in 1986, with E.L.Powell,“Touch + Go”.It showed his drum set to the fullest extreme. Outrageous! I could never figure out how he played this intense music (which required a lot of speed) with such giant sticks.
Cozy was born December 29, 1947. He started out believe it or not, with the Jeff Beck group and totally went on from there. Over the years, in the beginning he played with various artists whose diversity ranged from Donovan to Julie Felix to Murray Head. He joined Rainbow from 1976 to 1980, then finally made a solo album in 1979. After Rainbow broke up, he joined Robert Plant for a while, played with Michael Schenker, Whitesnake (for 1 album in 1984) and played on the all star (guy) drum jam “Under A Raging Moon” by Roger Daltry.
If you know your drummers ear and trivia and you can name a few and do not know or don’t realize that Cozy is there , no matter what, I guarantee you will know which one is his solo. That was Cozy Powell. One of the greatest drumming records he collaborated on was in 1991. It was with one of the greatest guitarists in the world, Brian May. Besides Gary Moore, (who he also played with) he and Brian made for a rockin’ pair.
“Back To The Daylight” and unfortunately his last drumming record “Another World” are of the greatest records of all time. Cozy died on April 12, 1998 in a car accident. I had the great pleasure of meeting him on a very strange run-away trek to Connecticut because I couldn’t wait a week until he and Brian May came to play in N.Y. They were opening for a horrible band who I didn’t stay for which was my luck because as I was leaving the concert hall, he was taking a break outside. It was a very wonderful experience, telling him about my trip and that I would see him a week later in N.Y. He was very sweet , gentle and shorter than I thought he would be,but a doll, nonetheless. I miss him so much, I know no one will forget him and those who don’t know who he is should try to find out. There is an official Cozy Powell Internet site that tells more about him and what he has done at: http://www.cozypowell.com. It also lists all 65 albums that the man played on. He was a gorgeous, beautiful man who died too young and too early. I can’t list all 65 albums but I will make a suggestion list.
He’s A Legend. WE’ll MISS YOU COZY!
