Iggy & The Stooges drummer Scott Asheton, a founding member of the Detroit-area proto-punk group, died Saturday evening due to an unspecified illness. He was 64-years-old.
After moving to Ann Arbor, MI, from Washington D.C., when he was 14, Asheton began to play music with his brother Ron, and boyhood friend Dave Alexander. Iggy Pop joined the group in 1967 and eventually helped The Stooges become one of punk-rock’s most successful acts in history.
Asheton supplied percussion for 1969′s The Stooges, 1970′s Funhouse and 1973’s infamous Raw Power. Following the band’s breakup in 1974, Asheton participated in various side projects (Sonny Vincent, Scott Morgan, Iggy Pop solo recordings and a reorganization of Destroy All Monsters), yet returned for consistent touring with The Stooges from 2003 through 2007 until falling ill. His last release with The Stooges was 2013’s Ready to Die.
Iggy Pop’s official Facebook page statement:
“My dear friend Scott Asheton passed away last night.
Scott was a great artist, I have never heard anyone play the drums with more meaning than Scott Asheton. He was like my brother. He and Ron have left a huge legacy to the world. The Asheton’s have always been and continue to be a second family to me.
My thoughts are with his sister Kathy, his wife Liz and his daughter Leanna, who was the light of his life.”
Watch Scott Asheton perform “Dirt” with The Stooges in Detroit below: