Sara Romweber, Drummer With Let’s Active and Dex Romweber Duo, Dies at 55

Sara Romweber, drummer with Let’s Active, Snatches of Pink and the Dex Romweber Duo, has died of a brain tumor, her manager confirmed to Variety. She was 55.

A powerful drummer with a vivacious personality who was well-known on North Carolina’s thriving indie scene, Romweber first rose to mainstream recognition with the ‘80s-era trio Let’s Active, which was led by early R.E.M. coproducer Mitch Easter. The power-pop group enjoyed success on college-radio charts and opened tours for R.E.M. and other acts; Romweber, then in her late teens, played on the group’s 1983 debut EP, “Afoot,” and the 1984 album, “Cypress.”

“I’d write songs and she’d figure out what to do with it, and she could make sense of it. She was a little bit wild, which I liked,” Easter told the Winston Salem Journal.

Romweber went on to join and record with the Winston-Salem-area group Snatches of Pink and most recently with her younger brother Dexter in the rockabilly-leaning Dex Romweber Duo. The latter group released four albums between 2009 and 2014 and collaborated with Jack White on “The Wind Did Move” single in 2009, which was released on White’s Third Man Records. One of the duo’s albums was recorded live at White’s Third Man Studios.

Her friend Mac MacCaughan, cofounder of the band Superchunk and Merge Records, wrote on Instagram: “Sara Romweber was one of the kindest, most unique and inspiriting people I’ve known. She was so important to me that I wrote a paper about her my freshman year in college. The Romweber home on Pine Street in Carrboro [North Carolina] was open to everyone and the heart of a musical community. [She was] a fantastically powerful and creative drummer — watching her play was a joy, no matter what band.”

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0RccRaaXgA&w=640&h=360]

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.