News

New Cozy Powell Tribute

Got this in the mail the other day from someone who apparently has organized a new Cozy Powell Tribute, which will happen in May.

UPDATE: This is now not happening in May, but will happen at an as of yet undetermined date in September.

Cozy Powell Videos

Sometime over the holiday season, I noticed the following video up on Youtube.  It's a video of Cozy Powell playing drums in the Jeff Beck Group on the song "Definitely Maybe".  I also decided to add some videos of Cozy's playing which I found on Youtube to the sounds page.  Probably should rename it to videos page, but it still somewhat applies.  :)   I anded up adding quite a lot, from Rainbow, to Jeff Beck, to Black Sabbath, Whitesnake, ELP, etc...

Go check out the sounds page for several Cozy Powell videos!

Site Revamp

As you can see, it's been nearly four years since I last updated anything on this website.  In fact, this page doesn't really qualify as "news" anymore because of that.  However...  As I've said before, this site does mean something to me personally as Cozy Powell sought me out to do it.  In August of 2006 roughly nine years after Cozy first approached me, I felt the time was right to change the look a bit.  What was here was terribly stale and out of date, and while I'm not offering much in the way of new information here, I did want to make the info that was here a little more pleasing to the eye, yet keep the simple design that Cozy & I worked on all those years ago.  I've been thinking about this for awhile, and the basic graphic work has been done for ages, but finding the time was an issue, plus I waffled on changing the look, but I decided to keep the structure, yet change the look a bit.  Hopefully you like it.

I'm also going to try and update with some new stuff.  In the couple of years (sigh) since my last update, I've gotten a few submissions here and there.  I still have them, so I'm going to try and get to them before too long.  But I wanted to get the update online first.  The pictures pages and the forums need to have their look changed to match too - that should be done by the weekend.

It seems quite weird that Cozy's been gone this long.   But our old friends Tony Martin & Glenn Tipton have kept Cozy's drum work out there.

Tony Martin's Scream

As you probably have heard by now, Cozy Powell makes an appearance on a "new" track.  It's the song "Raising Hell" from Tony's 2005 solo album, "Scream".  Cozy had recorded some drum tracks for Tony to use in future albums when they were working together in Cozy Powell's Hammer back in 1992.   Raising Hell is one of these tracks, finally seeing release 13 years later.  Here's a few words from Tony Martin regarding Cozy's appearance on Scream, and some of the work Tony had to do to the drum tracks he had:

Apart from the drums!!!!! That was different.... Obviously Cozy isn't around to re-play stuff so I had to use the computer to make that work. The original drum track was not bad but I needed to get a chorus into a different place in one part and the cymbles were a little distorted in places so I had to repeat parts of the drum track to get what the song needed. It took a LONG time to acheive, mostly because it was important to keep the integrity of the drum track, and also his name. But apart from THAT!!! I also had to try and match the Cozy track to the rest of the album, in fact I neded up matching th ealbum to Cozy's track, Raising Hell became the benchmark for the rest of the songs. So It took a long time to finish.

There are another 22 Cozy tracks I could work with, the one I mentioned on my site is still around but i had to leave it off this album, I just wasn't happy with the lyrics. I wanted to use it as Cozy heard it but to honest it sounds wrong!!! So I'd like to work on that one longer before I release it on you guys.

The other track Tony refers to is one called "Wings of Thunder".  Wings was announced by Tony on his site some time ago, but it did not make the final cut of the album, as he said above.  If you haven't picked up this album yet, you should.  It's a killer album, and the inclusion of Cozy is the icing on the cake.   You can buy it with the order links here:

[ Buy Scream from Amazon.com | Buy Scream from Amazon.co.uk ]

Glenn Tipton's "Edge of the World"

That's not the end of it.  Back in 1996, Judas Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton released an album entitled "Baptizm of Fire".  On it Cozy Powell played the majority of the drums.  What most fans did not know is that this was the second album Glenn recorded with Tony around this time.  A second album was recorded, but has remained unreleased until now, 2006.   This album is called "Edge of the World".  Here's a few words from Glenn about Edge...

"Back in '96 when I approached Atlantic Records regarding my first solo album, the majority of the songs featured Cozy Powell on drums and John Entwistle on bass guitar. The label liked the material but suggested that the line up was a little 'old school' and that I should work with some younger musicians and blend the new tracks in to give the album a more modern feel. This I did as I had very little choice at the time and in all honesty a very good album emerged which became my first release - 'Baptizm Of Fire'.

However, deep down inside I knew that the first batch of songs included some of the finest playing from two of the most talented and legendary musicians that I have ever worked with! Rhino/Warners heard the tracks recently and agreed that this album had to see the light of day!!

Tragically, both Cozy and John are no longer with us, as I'm sure everyone will know, and this album is a tribute to their unique styles and skills and a small part of the immense legacy they have left behind which will continue to inspire people all over the world for many years to come."

What else is cool about this album is that all profits from it are being donated to the Teenage Cancer Trust charity.  So if you have not bought yourself a copy of this album, you should.  Not only will you get some great tunes, you'll be helping out someone in need.  Click on the cover art shown here to order a copy from Amazon.com (it does not seem to be available at Amazon's UK site).

As a bonus, you can head on over to this link at the Rhino records website where you can listen to samples of all 10 songs on the album.

About the Site

Once again it's been far too long since I updated this site, but I wanted to thank the folks who were generous in helping out to pay for the domain registration. It doesn't seem like it that Cozy has been gone now for over four years -but it has. I wish to thank him again for seeking me out to help establish a web presence. Unfortunately Cozy left us before we could really ramp it up (Cozy had some big plans for video and audio files and the like), but I keep it going as it was because this is what Cozy and I had done together. It isn't much, I admit - but it is something that Cozy & I put together, so for that reason alone, I probably will never change the site design. :)

Cozy Wins Best Drummer Poll

One of Cozy's final projects was to drum for the Yngwie Malmsteen band. To that, the Yngwie website conducted a poll to see who was the favorite drummer/keyboardist/etc.. In the drummer poll, Cozy won by a landslide, beating out the closest competition (Anders Johansson) by 27% of the vote. Check out the poll results here.

Rainbow Book Available

There is a very cool book out now which will definitely be of interest to Cozy Powell fans. It's called "Rainbow Rising: The Story of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow". Cozy spent a good number of years in Rainbow, and is on several of their albums, so Cozy's part in the book is more than just a page or two. The book is obviously slanted towards Ritchie, as Rainbow was his band, but there's plenty of Cozy stuff in here. Here's what I wrote about the book over on my Black Sabbath site:

This is a very cool book - follows the story of Rainbow from it's genesis with Ritchie Blackmore's discontent in Deep Purple, through the Dio years, the Bonnet years, as well as the Joe Lynn Turner years. It briefly touches on the Purple reunion of the 80's, as well as Ritchie's attempt to reform Rainbow after he left the Purple Reunion in the early 90's. It also talks to Ritchie's playing the Renaissance Faire style of music he plays now.

You can buy it via either of the links shown here. If you buy it with these links, it helps support the site and keeps it going. Make sure to check it out!

[ Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk ]

Not a Huge Update

It's been a hellaciously long time since I've done anything to the web site. Quite honestly, there's not much to talk about. As much as we all miss Cozy, there's little to discuss in the way of new events. If anyone has any materials they'd like to contribute, let me know - I'll be glad to take a look at them.

I do not intend on taking this web site down, mostly as I've received funding which will allow it to stay. For awhile there, I thought it might have to go, but Bill Ward has graciously stepped in and funded the hosting of this web site, so it will remain online.

One other thing, for some reason, I've gotten a lot of requests lately for info as to where Cozy is buried so people can visit. There's one problem with that. Cozy was not buried, he was cremated. The last time I discussed this with anyone, his girlfriend at the time he died had Cozy's ashes. Whether that's still the case, I do not know, but that was the last news I had heard on the issue. If anyone has any news contrary to that, send it along.

We've Moved!

Well, the move went much faster than I anticipated - it's all moved over and set up on the new server. If you're seeing this, than you are all set up correctly for the new home of the Official Cozy Powell Site.

Thanks for visiting!

Cozy Powell Site Moving

When I first set up this web site with Cozy Powell, we had a one year agreement for its existence. Unfortunately, Cozy left us during that year, and the fees that were incurred from the web host were graciously picked up for another year by a few of Cozy's friends. However, that ran out on December 31, 1999. As we move into 2000, I find I can no longer pay for the domain myself out of my own pocket (I'm not rich here). Anyway, I did not want the site to die because I could no longer afford to pay it. I had two choices. I could either come to you, the site visitor to help pay for the site, or I could find some alternate hosting idea.

Well, I have found an alternate. Brad Wernicke of the PC gaming site 3D Portal (who is a personal friend of mine), has decided to host the site for me. I'm gracious to Brad for this, and it will mean that the Cozy Powell site will live on. Special thanks go out to Brad for this favor!

Y2K Issue with Forums

Furthermore, I noticed that the software I was using for the Cozy Powell web forums is not Y2K compliant, and as such, if you post any messages after 12:01AM on January 1, 2000, they will not show up, because the software thinks they're 1900, and unfortunately, the software will only show messages back as far as 100 days. I am going to be installing a new version of the software on the new server - so when we move, the forums should work fine again. Messages posted after Jan 1, 2000 should show up on the new server when I get that software running, but I'm not 100% sure about that, so I recommend against posting messages until we're moved over to the new server.

Thanks for your interest in the site, and I intend on keeping it going as long as I can!

Cozy Powell Tribute Concert

I received this Email from Neil Murray a few days ago regarding details of the Cozy Powell Tribute Concert on May 1st in Buxton, Derbyshire UK (about 30 miles SE of Manchester)...

From: Neil Murray (email withheld)
Date sent: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 03:37:42 -0600
To: joes@3drealms.com
Subject: Re: tribute concert

Hi Joe!

I'm in the process of organising part of the lineup and the song list for the Cozy Powell Tribute at Buxton Opera House on May 1st. At the moment, the band looks like this:

Tony Martin Vocals (Black Sabbath)
Don Airey Keyboards (Rainbow)
Neil Murray Bass
Mike Casswell Guitar (Cozy Powell solo album)
Bobby Rondinelli Drums (Rainbow, Black Sabbath) - almost definite

I'm hoping to approach again some of the more well-known musicians that Cozy worked with, such as Brian May, Tony Iommi, Richie Blackmore etc, who so far have either said that they're not available or are waiting to see who else is on the bill.

We'll be playing for about 30/40 minutes, and I believe the tickets are pretty expensive, so I'd understand if fans didn't think there were enough star names to make it worth while, but we're going to try and make sure that our section of it is good musically.

I will also probably play in another lineup featuring members of the Brian May Band and associated spin-offs, and there are various other musicians involved in the evening.

Sorry if I've not been very definite about this before, but it seemed that if I was going to do something on the night, I'd have to start organising it myself, which has taken a bit of time.

You can remove the usual bits and post this if you wish.
All the best,
Neil

Cozy Powell's Final Work

There's been some discussion as to what was actually Cozy Powell's final work. I quiered a friend of his, Don Airey about this, and this is what Don had to say...

From: "Donald Airey" <email withheld>
To: "Joe Siegler" <siegler@cozypowell.com>
Subject: Fw: (Fwd) Re: Cozy's last work
Date sent: Thu, 18 Mar 1999 12:18:22 -0600

Copy of e-mail sent in June. Cozy's girlfriend Shari Reeve confirmed that the Colin Blunstone sessions were Cozy's last work. If you don't know, Colin was the lead singer of the Zombies in the 60s.

Cheers

DON

-----Original Message-----
From: Donald Airey <email withheld>
To: Joe Siegler <siegler@cozypowell.com>
Date: 24 June 1998 23:22
Subject: Re: (Fwd) Re: Cozy's last work

Dear Joe,

Thanks for your e-mail re Cozy,s last recording. I can confirm that it was the forthcoming album by Colin Blunstone, called "The Light Inside", which I produced and on which I play keyboards.

Cozy played on six tracks, which were as follows:-

1 Your Love is like the Sun(Nik Kershaw)
2. Walking in the Rain (Blunstone/Nye)
3. Losing You (Blunstone/Denys)
4. Hearts that Turn (Blunstone/Nye)
5. Till We Try Again(ditto)
6. Send me your Broken Hearts (Kershaw)

The sessions were over two days, Feb 6th (tracks 1-3), and Feb 10th (4-6) at Silvermere Sound in Surrey, with Sean Lynch who had worked with Cozy on Black Sabbath and Glen Tipton albums, and Cozy's own "The Drums are Back", engineering. After the first day I phoned my wife and told her it was as though someone had turned the light on. His musicianship was faultless, he was full of ideas vis a vis the arrangements of the songs, and there were large helpings of his unique good humour. He phoned me several times afterwards to offer help and encouragement, the last call being the night of the accident. We had just started mixing a track with him on next day when the terrible news came through - you can imagine the effect it had on everyone, and how scarcely credible it seemed. There is a dedication on the sleeve note which reads - "Losing You"(track 12) is dedicated to Cozy Powell whose brilliance lit up these his last recording sessions. The light shines on".

If you need any more info let me know. Keep up the good work!

Best wishes
Don Airey

Cozy Powell Tribute Concert

Saturday 1 May 7.30pm
Active Music Festivals presents
A Night to Remember . . . Cozy Powell

When legendary drummer Cozy Powell was tragically killed it shook the world of rock music to its very foundations. From his work with some of the industry's truly great rock bands, Cozy was loved by musicians and audiences alike. Many well known artistes, including Richie Blackmore of Deep Purple, appear in this one night gala concert.

Cozy Powell Tribute Albums

I was sent this email regarding some tribute albums that should be of interest to Cozy Powell fans.

NIJI-DENSETSU Niji-Densetsu
(Japan Sept 1998 Pony Canyon PCCA-1230)
Now this is utterly cool. A bunch of Japanese artists, most of them unheard of outside their native land, putting together a tribute to one of their favorite bands. The players here are from bands such as Anthem and Earthshaker, along with special guests (and Rainbow alumni) Joe Lynn Turner and David Rosenthal. And what a bang-up job they did, including the vocals by Yukio Morikawa (who sounds like a strange cross between Graham Bonnet and the Elfen One). Morikawa and Turner traded off vocal duties on "Spotlight Kid", accompanied by keyboardist Rosenthal. Rosenthal also provided the keyboard introduction to "Gates of Babylon". Turner also guested on a second track, "Drinking With The Devil". The acoustic parts of "Street of Dreams" was a nice touch. This is one of the most unique tribute records I have ever heard, with nearly every track capturing the spirit and energy of Rainbow. Dedicated to the memory of Cozy Powell.

1. Over The Rainbow (Harburg) - Kill The King (Blackmore/Dio/Powell)
2. Spotlight Kid (Blackmore/Glover)
3. Eyes Of The World (Blackmore/Glover)
4. Man On The Silver Mountain (Blackmore/Dio) - Mistreated (Blackmore/Coverdale)
5. Road To Babylon (Rosenthal) - Gates Of Babylon (Blackmore/Dio)
6. All Night Long (Blackmore/Glover)
7. Starstruck (Blackmore/Dio)
8. Street Of Dreams (Blackmore/Turner)
9. Drinking With The Devil (Blackmore/Turner)
10. Lost In Hollywood (Blackmore/Glover/Powell)
11. A Light In The Black (Blackmore/Dio)
12. Over The Ranbow - Reprise (Harburg)
13. Rainbow Eyes (Blackmore/Dio)

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Cozy Powell Forever
(Japan Sept 1998 Electric Angel Records EAR-001)
This record is Munetaka Higuchi's tribute to the late great Cozy Powell, and features many Japanese artists, including former Loudness mate Akira Takasaki, guesting on two tracks. The album starts out with an over the top drum solo accompanying the classic 1812 Overture, followed by a fine collection of material covering the Cozy legacy. There are five Rainbow covers, along with songs by Whitesnake, Michael Schenker Group, Jeff Beck, and instrumentals from other sources (Don Airey, ELP, Gary Moore). By accident or design, no Cozy-era Black Sabbath covers appear ("Sabbath Stones" would have made a good choice though). Carmine Appice and Tony Franklin appear on the two weakest tracks - "Theme One", and "Armed and Ready", the latter with the only poor English vocals on the record. Most amusing moment: "Slide It In" with female vocals, from Lee Aaron sound-alike Keiko Terada. Along with the Japanese tribute to Rainbow (Niji-Densetsu), one of the few decent tribute records to come out in 1998 (outclassing the two Ozzy and one Maiden tribute by comparison).

1. Overture 1812
2. Stargazer (Blackmore/Dio)
3. Over The Top (Airey/Powell)
4. Lost In Hollywood (Blackmore/Glover/Powell)
5. The Score (Emerson/Lake)
6. Kill The King (Blackmore/Dio/Powell)
7. Theme One (Martin)
8. Ice Cream Cakes (Beck)
9. All Night Long (Blackmore/Glover)
10. Since You've Been Gone (Ballard)
11. Slide It In (Coverdale)
12. Armed And Ready (Schenker/Barden)
13. The Loner - Dedicated To Jeff Beck (Middleton/Moore)

NEWS FLASH (January 1999) - New Japanese Live tribute to Cozy Tribute is set to be released. No further information on artist or record label. Details to come. Cozy forever!

Thanks to John LaRocque for the information!!

Cozy's Final Studio Album Released

Cozy's fifth studio solo album entitled "Especially For You" (also Twin Oaks) is out in Japan. It was recorded in 1994/1995, and some more tracks were intended to be put on it, but (for obvious reasons) they were not.

Cozy's Drum Tech with Black Sabbath

Cozy's drum tech, Eddie Naughton, will be out on tour with Black Sabbath as Tony Iommi's Personal Assistant.

Cozy's Drum Kit to the Hall of Fame

Cozy's drum kit is going to Yamaha for a display, and after that, they're on to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. No date as to when they might be there, I'll report more when I hear it.

When I started the site with Cozy Powell in the fall of 1997, our original deal was for one year, and that year was due to expire at the end of November in 1998. Obviously, since Cozy is unfortunately no longer with us, he would be unable to continue the maintenance of the site. Fortunately, Brian May & Neil Murray have gotten together and agreed to cover the costs for the running of this site, so it won't disappear.

Big thanks go out to Brian & Neil for keeping Cozy's site going! UPDATE Dec 14: I had erroneously left out Eddie Naughton (Cozy's drum tech). He helped out Brian May & Neil Murray in keeping this site going. Sorry Eddie! Your help is appreciated, too!

Cozy Powell has died in a car crash on April 5th, 1998. For the latest, please see the Tributes page, as that's the one I'll be updating the most.

Cozy is now in the USA rehearsing with Yngwie Malmsteen for the April / May Japanese tour. After a short break in May, there should be more news about dates for the rest of the world. There is a possible Brian May tour at the end of the year that Cozy might be involved in.

Yngwie Malmsteen

Yngwie has just had a new album released in Japan titled Facing The Animal (Canyon Int PCCY01154), on which Cozy Powell appears. Cozy is now preparing (ie: in the gym) for an extensive tour in the new year. A world-wide release is being negotiated for the new year, but the Japanese release will have one extra 'bonus' track over these. Cozy has been approached to participate in the tour, which will coincide with the album's release.

Brian May

The former Queen guitarist, with whom Cozy (and Neil Murray) has already recorded two albums, has another solo album due out around May of 1998. Cozy has worked on a few tracks which sound absolutely amazing, and a bit heavier than May's previous work. There's even a guest appearance from guitar Wizard Jeff Beck. Cozy's part on the tour next summer is to be confirmed.

Peter Green

Cozy has now left the Splinter Group, the band that brought the legendary Fleetwood Mac guitarist back to the limelight. The was after a bout of touring and the release of a live album, and was yet another project on which Cozy worked with bassist Neil Murray.

Best of SOLO

Polydor have recently released a 'Best of Cozy Powell', which features tracks from his 1st three solo albums Over the Top, Tilt, & Octopuss. It is the first time tracks from Over the Top have appeared on CD in the UK. At the same time, a Very Best of Rainbow has also been issued.

Rainbow Reunion

Cozy Powell has been approached about a Rainbow reformation with Ronnie Dio and Ritchie Blackmore. This could either be the classic Rising lineup (with Jimmy Bain & Tony Carey) or Long Live Rock'N'Roll (David Stone & Bob Daisley). Both Jimmy & Bob have been active in the rock world, while little has been hear from David Stone. More news on the reformation as it comes in.