Tim Bogert, Vanilla Fudge and Cactus Bassist, Dies at 76

Variety ^ | Ellise Shafer

[nickcarraway]

Tim Bogert, a legendary bassist best known as part of the bands Vanilla Fudge, Cactus and the trio Beck, Bogert & Appice, has died of cancer. He was 76.

The official Vanilla Fudge Facebook account confirmed the news on Thursday morning.

​”Acclaimed bassist and rock musician Tim Bogert died on Wednesday, January 13th., after a long and valiant battle with cancer,” their statement reads.

His frequent collaborator and bandmate, Carmine Appice, also paid tribute to Bogert in a Facebook post.

“Tim was a one of a kind bass player. He inspired many, many bass players worldwide. He was as masterful at shredding as he was holding down a groove, and Tim introduced a new level of virtuosity into rock bass playing,” Appice wrote. “No one played like Tim. He created bass solos that drove audiences to a frenzy every time he played one. And he played a different solo every night. He was the last of the legendary 60’s bass players.”

Bogert formed the rock band Vanilla Fudge in the ’60s with Appice, Vince Martell and Mark Stein. They recorded five albums between 1967 and 1969, which included their hit covers of the Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” and the Beatles’ “Ticket to Ride.” In 1970, Vanilla Fudge disbanded and Bogert and Appice briefly created Cactus along with guitarist Jim McCarty and vocalist Rusty Day. However, the group soon disbanded in 1972, and Bogert and Appice teamed up with guitarist Jeff Beck to form the power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice. They produced one self-titled album in 1973 and disbanded the following year.

Bogert then joined Bobby and the Midnites, a side project formed by Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead. Though he toured with the group, Bogert left before their debut album was released, joining the U.K. group Boxer in 1977. In 1981, Bogert became a faculty member at the Musicians Institute in Los Angeles, but continued to record, releasing his second album, “Master’s Brew,” in 1983 and releasing “Mystery” with Vanilla Fudge in 1984.

In 1999, Bogert was recognized by the Hollywood Rock Walk of Fame for his contributions to the genre. Bogert continued to tour with various groups until 2009, when he retired.

[nickcarraway]

Vanilla Fudge - You Keep Me Hanging On (Vinyl)

[Cboldt]

Lots of memories come back as each generation moves on. RIP Mr. Bogert.

[csvset]

Vanilla Fudge, I remember seeing them on the Ed Sullivan Show.

[chajin]

Mark Stein was one of the reasons I became a church organist (long story). RIP Bogert.

[nuconvert]

RIP

People Get Ready
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDWN5xL7LRc

[Vaquero]

Set me free why don’t you babe.

[ETL]

On a related note...

Carmine Appice (born December 15, 1946) is an American drummer and percussionist most commonly associated with the rock genre of music. He is best known for his associations with Vanilla Fudge; Cactus; the power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice; Rod Stewart; King Kobra; and Blue Murder, which also featured John Sykes, of Whitesnake and Thin Lizzy fame, and Tony Franklin of The Firm.

Appice was inducted into the Classic Drummer Hall of Fame in 2013[1] and the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2014.[2]

He is credited with influencing later rock drummers including Iron Maiden’s Nicko McBrain, Aerosmith’s Joey Kramer, Roger Taylor of Queen, Phil Collins of Genesis, Rush’s Neil Peart, Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee, Slayer’s Dave Lombardo, Richard Christy, Chris Grainger,[3] David Kinkade, Ray Mehlbaum, Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham, Ian Paice of Deep Purple, Anvil’s Robb Reiner and Eric Singer of Kiss.

His best-selling drum instruction book The Realistic Rock Drum Method.[4] was first published in 1972 and has since been revised and republished as The Ultimate Realistic Rock Drum Method.[5] It covers the basic subjects of rock rhythms and polyrhythms, linear rudiments and groupings, shuffle rhythms, hi-hat and double bass drum exercises.

Appice is the elder brother of drummer Vinny Appice by 11 years; they are of Italian descent.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmine_Appice

[ETL]

Vanilla Fudge drummer, Carmine Appice

Led Zeppelin drummer, John Bonham

Carmine Appice on how John Bohnam ‘borrowed’ his fills from Vanilla Fudge

By Stuart Williams August 11, 2020

Led Zeppelin supported [opened for] Vanilla Fudge on their first US tour

Many would consider [Led Zeppelin drummer] John Bonham the greatest rock drummer of all time: a powerhouse with a strong sense of groove, lightning-fast right foot and the thunderous fills are all standout elements of his playing.

However drummer Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, Rod Stewart and many more) claimed in a recent radio interview with The Freewaves WUNH, that Bonham borrowed a lot of his Vanilla Fudge stick tricks and drum fills.

“I did a lot of things with twirling and grabbing cymbals.” says Appice.

“When I met Tommy Lee, he said, ‘So where’d you get that? I got it from John Bonham’.

I said ‘John Bonham got it from me’. He didn’t believe me.”

“When we got home, he came to my house, I played the Ed Sullivan show with Vanilla Fudge in 1968 where I was doing that, and Led Zeppelin wasn’t even out yet. He said, ‘Dude, I can’t believe you were doing it first.’”

“I played him the end of [Vanilla Fudge’s 1968 single] Shotgun, which was out like five years before Rock and Roll, [1971] the same kind of ending on Rock and Roll that I did at the end of Shotgun, so I blew Tommy Lee’s mind.”

The interviewer then asked “Does it ever annoy you? Do you think, ‘Oh my god! He’s sampling me, he’s stealing’?”

“You know, when [Bonham] was coming up and we toured with him, we did that very first gig - they opened up for Vanilla Fudge, and we became friends.”

“He would do something, look at me like, deliberately, and do one of my fills, and we both laughed. Who knew that those fills were going to become associated with him?

“People that know my playing know his playing say ‘Wow!’. Like Steve Smith, the great drummer from Journey called me up one day and said, ‘Man, I just listened to your Renaissance album and all the John Bonham fills are all over your album.’ ‘Yeah, I know.’”

John got so big with Zeppelin, but there are a lot of people that realize where things originated - like Modern Drummer magazine, Drum Magazine said that I created heavy metal drumming, and I’m the first heavy drummer by Modern Drummer.”

“And at the time, we didn’t know what we were doing; nothing was labeled, we were just trying to do what we do and become heard without a PA system.”

https://www.musicradar.com/news/carmine-appice-on-how-john-bohnam-borrowed-his-fills-from-vanilla-fudge

[ETL]

Mark Stein was one of the reasons I became a church organist (long story).

If you don't laugh out loud watching this brief YouTube video, I will give you the $1,400 from my Stimulus check when it arrives!

The Simpsons - In the Garden of Eden

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulDC1w1ydLI

[4yearlurker]

I remember buying that B,B,& A album when it came out. My brother has that same record now. Also according to Creem Magazine Beck also played guitar on the Stevie Wonder cut of "Superstitious."

[chajin]

Keep your check; I laughed 😁

[ETL]

Check out this one...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U34_P_zoGzk

[LS]

You would like the biography I did of Mark, with his full cooperation, called “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” which he self published about 7-8 years ago. Spent a lot of time with Mark, plus he arranged interviews with over 100 rockers including Ian Paice, Billy Joel, Alice Cooper, Liberty DiVitto, Chuck Negron, Jimmy Haslip, Rudy Sarzo, Glenn Hughes . . . on and on.

When we started, as a total Fudge fan, I told Mark the book had to be a history of rock from the 1960s on, not just his bio, and he agreed. Mark later did four commissioned songs for me in “Rockin’ the Wall,” my documentary film (2010). He did covers of “People Got to Be Free” and “Ball of Confusion” (GREAT!) and took two of his “Boomerang” songs and revised the lyrics for the Berlin Wall. All available only on the “Rockin’ the Wall Motion Picture Soundtrack.”

As for Tim, I met him a few times-—just hello, how are you-—but a friend produced four straight nights of Cactus as the Odyssey Theater in PHX. Man, they were off the charts good every night. Bogert at that time was by far the best bass player in rock. Jack Bruce was a distant second. Later in life, though, his style changed and he got far more passive, to the point that on the 1980s Vanilla Fudge album, you couldn’t even tell it was Tim playing.

Then, around 2016, he reunited for a show with Carmine, Duane Hitchings and Jim McCarty and had many flashes of the old Tim.

[LS]

Best rock drummer ever. See above on my comment about my book on Mark Stein. He and Carmine were still not on the best of terms (Carmine & Tim tried to record a Vanilla Fudge album without Mark).

But I saw all but Tim in a concert in PHX about 4 years ago and they still had it. Still good friends with Vinny and Mark.

[SamAdams76]

When I was younger, all the old people hated rock and roll.

Now all the old people played rock and roll. And they are all dying.

[LS]

True. Remember, the original plan in around 1972 was that Beck and Rod Stewart were to join Carmine & Tim, but Beck got in an auto wreck (which he did frequently-—he literally builds race cars from scratch, frame and all). So Carmine & Tim found Jim McCarty.

I had the privilege of playing with McCarty for three nights around 1976 in FL. We lost our guitarist, somehow convinced McCarty to come to Ft. Meyers & play with us. We thought we were auditioning him. He was auditioning us for the “Rockets.” We failed. He said to me as he left, “You remind me a lot of Carmine.” I said THANK YOU. He said, “It wasn’t a compliment.” :)

[RobertoinAL]

Played on a show at the Shrine Auditorium in LA in 1967-68 with VF. Tim had an incredible stage presence, plus being a great musician and singer.

[nickcarraway]

It sounds like a lot of their songs were covers of soul music songs

[LS]

Yes. Their originals were ok (for me) but they definitely were not “pop” and it’s strange. Except for “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” they didn’t have a hit. But their Vanilla Fudge album was on the charts for 17 weeks-—a very long time.

Also, because “Hangin’ On” was over 5 minutes, they get very little by way of modern replays (although I have heard the song in two different recent movies).

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.