On September 6, the world lost Rick Davies, who started Supertramp and wrote most of their songs.
Born in Swindon back in 1944, Rick was into music from the time he was a kid, trying out different bands before finally pulling together the group that would end up as Supertramp in 1969, along with Roger Hodgson, Richard Palmer, and Robert Millar; their first album, Supertramp, dropped just one year later.
The band really started getting noticed in the 1970s, but things exploded when the classic lineup—Davies, Hodgson, John Helliwell, Dougie Thomson, and Bob Siebenberg—locked in place and put out Breakfast in America in 1979; that record zoomed to the top of the Billboard 200 and gave us tracks like “The Logical Song,” “Breakfast in America,” “Goodbye Stranger,” and “Take the Long Way Home.” Davies wrote and sang “Goodbye Stranger.”
After Hodgson left in 1982, following Famous Last Words, Rick kept Supertramp going with new musicians, releasing more albums until 2002 and touring until cancer forced him to stop in the 2010s.
Fans always thought his music made even rainy days feel brighter.
The group’s tribute said, “Beyond the stage, Rick was known for his warmth, resilience, and devotion to his wife Sue, with whom he shared over five decades. Rick’s music and legacy continue to inspire many and bears testament to the fact that great songs never die, they live on.”
