Andy Anderson, a former drummer for English rock band the Cure and punk singer Iggy Pop, died from terminal cancer on Tuesday. He was 68.
Anderson played on the Cure’s hit single “Love Cats” and on the 1984 album “The Top.”
The musician, originally from Essex, England, shared the news of his stage 4 cancer on Facebook on Feb. 17. In a message to his fans, he said, “Please, no boohooing here, just be positive. For me, it’s just another life experience and hurdle…I most definitely am positive about the situation.”
Founding member of the Cure, Lol Tolhurst, shared the news of Anderson’s death on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon.
Anderson joined the Cure in 1983 after Tolhurst switched to keyboards, and contributed to the band’s fifth studio release, “The Top.” The psychedelia-flavored proto-goth album peaked at No. 10 on the U.K. Albums Chart and featured the single “The Caterpillar” along with “Shake Dog Shake” and “Dressing Up.” He also played on the singles album “Japanese Whispers,” which included the former standalone track “Love Cats.” Finally, the drummer was a part of the band’s first live album “Concert: The Cure Live,” which was recorded in 1984 at the Hammersmith Odeon venue in London.
Besides the Cure, Anderson played with musicians including Pop, Peter Gabriel, Midge Ure, Issac Hayes, Mike Oldfield, the Gun Club’s Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Bronski Beat’s Jimmy Somerville and Glen Matlock from the Sex Pistols.
He started his career playing for psychedelic hard rockers Hawkwind before joining the Glove, who released just one album, “Blue Sunshine,” as a side project of the Cure’s frontman Robert Smith and Steven Severin of Siouxsie and the Banshees.