R.I.P. Andy Anderson, Former Drummer for The Cure

Music News
02/26/2019
KEXP
photo by Fin Costello

Andy Anderson, the former drummer for The Cure, has died following a battle with cancer. The news comes just one week after Anderson revealed in a Facebook post that he had Terminal 4 cancer. He was 68.

While Anderson’s stint in The Cure was short, from 1983 to 1984, his contributions were significant. He appeared on some of the band’s seminal works like Japanese Whispers and The Top as well as the group’s first live album Concert and the concert video The Cure Live In Japan.

“It's with a heavy heart, I have to report the passing of a Cure brother,” said founding Cure member Lol Tolhurst in a tweet Tuesday afternoon confirming the news. “Andy Anderson was a true gentleman and a great musician with a wicked sense of humor which he kept until the end, a testament to his beautiful spirit on the last journey. We are blessed to have known him.”

Anderson’s musical contributions extended both before and after his time in The Cure. He collaborated alongside The Cure’s Robert Smith and Siouxsie and the Banshees' Steven Severin in the short-lived side-project The Glove. Anderson also shared the stage with the likes of Iggy Pop, Hawkwind, Peter Gabriel, Isaac Hayes, Sex Pistols’ Glen Matlock, and Jimmy Pursey’s Sham 69, and numerous others.

Join us in remember Anderson’s life and music by revisiting some of the work he played on below.