Drummer Mac Poole – who once turned down the chance to join Led Zeppelin – has died after a battle with cancer.
The well-travelled sticksman from Birmingham, England, played with a host of bands and was a well-known face in the burgeoning music scene of the 60s and 70s. As well as stints with The Dangerfield Band, Warhorse and Gong, he also played with Big Bertha, Marsha Hunt, Hungry Heart and Nick Simper’s Fandango.
Poole apparently had links to Led Zep in their early days, but did not join when offered the chance. He also played in a band called Magill, along with Hawkwind’s Huw Lloyd-Langton. He passed away on Thursday,
Poole’s friend Paul Greens says via Facebook: “He was a friend for well over 30 years, a great drummer who would help me out time and time again. We had some great gigs together. From the 70s at the Midland, Dangerfield/Greenie Allstars in the 80s, The Solid Gold gigs in the 90s and The Honeycombs after the millennium. RIP mate, you need the rest. I will miss him terribly.”
In 2010, Poole gave an interview to The Express in which he said he had been given the all-clear from throat cancer two years earlier. He was first diagnosed with the condition in 2001.
Last year, Poole posted on Jason Bonham’s Facebook page, recalling a time that Led Zep icon John Bonham bought his young son his first drum kit. He wrote: “I met you when you were about three years of age. It was only a couple of years after that when your dad told me he had bought a small kit from America for you. Oh yes, he really thought the world of you. He was a proud dad.”
