October 14, 2011 – Drummer Chuck Ruff died in San Francisco, California
OCTOBER 14, 2011 – Drummer CHUCK RUFF (b. May 25, 1951 in Reno, Nevada) died in San Francisco, California, after a lengthy illness at age 60, survived by two children.Ruff was best known for his work with Edgar Winter, but first played in the rock group Sawbuck with Ronnie Montrose and Bill Church from 1968–1970. Ruff and Montrose later joined Edgar Winter with Dan Hartman to form The Edgar Winter Group in 1972.
It was with this band that he had his biggest successes, first with the album “They Only Come Out at Night” (1973), featuring the popular instrumental “Frankenstein” which reached #1 in the US in May 1973, and the top 15 single “Free Ride,” which reached #14 that same year.
The album “Shock Treatment,” which featured the song “Easy Street” was also successful.In 1977, Ruff joined Sammy Hagar and performed on the albums “Street Machine” (1979) and “Danger Zone” (1979), including the song “Bad Reputation” which is in the film “Up the Academy.”In his later years, Ruff continued performing music in Reno, Nevada with the Chuck Ruff Group, The Max Volume Band (played drums on the 2007 album, “Illuminaughty”) and his last project, Geezersläw. Ruff was an inspiration and friend to the Reno music community, as well as his fans around the world.
SOURCES
http://swampland.com/…/title:chuck_ruff_edgar_winter_group
https://www.allmusic.com/…/the-edgar-winter-group…
https://www.allmusic.com/…/sammy-hagar…/biography
http://ultimateclassicrock.com/chuck-ruff-former-sammy…/
http://www.synthtopia.com/…/the-story-of-edgar-winters…/