Robbie Bachman, drummer of rock band Bachman-Turner Overdrive, dies at 69

Robbie Bachman, the drummer who provided the backbeat for 1970s rock band Bachman-Turner Overdrive's biggest hits — including "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" and "Takin' Care of Business" — has died. He was 69.

Bachman's older brother and bandmate, Randy Bachman, announced the musician's death Thursday evening.

"Another sad departure," he wrote on Twitter. "The pounding beat behind BTO, my little brother Robbie has joined Mum, Dad, and brother Gary on the other side. Maybe Jeff Beck needs a drummer! He was an integral cog in our rock & roll machine and we rocked the world together."

A cause of death has not been provided at this time.

Born in Winnipeg, Canada, in 1953, Robin "Robbie" Peter Kendall Bachman grew up playing drums in a musical family alongside older brothers Randy and Tim Bachman. Following Randy's departure from the Guess Who in 1970, he and former bandmate Chad Allan created their own band, Brave Belt, and soon recruited Robbie to be their drummer.

Brave Belt recorded two self-titled albums in the span of two years, during which Allan left the group. The band rounded out its lineup with bassist C. Fred Turner and middle brother Tim Bachman on rhythm guitar. One year later, they changed their group's name to the very apt Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

Fin Costello/Redferns Bachman-Turner Overdrive drummer Robbie Bachman

As the cofounder and original drummer of BTO, Bachman provided rollicking, nonstop percussion for eight of the band's chart-topping records: 1973's Bachman–Turner Overdrive, 1973's Bachman–Turner Overdrive II, 1974's Not Fragile, 1975's Four Wheel Drive, 1975's Head On, 1977's Freeways, 1978's Street Action, and 1979's Rock n' Roll Nights. He also co-write some of BTO's most popular songs, including the 1973 hit "Hold Back the Water" and 1974's steadily chugging "Roll on Down the Highway."

BTO temporarily disbanded in 1979, only to return in the early '80s without Bachman behind its drum kit. As a result, the group's 1984 self-titled reunion record is their only album that does not showcase his talents. He eventually returned to Bachman-Turner Overdrive in 1988 and kept on rocking until 2005. He was inducted, alongside the band's original lineup, into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2014.

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