Pete York

Peter York (born 15 August 1942 in Redcar, Yorkshire, England) is a British rock drummer who has been performing since the 1960s. Born in Redcar, he attended the Nottingham High School and learnt to play the trumpet and snare drum in a school band, he also attended Trent College. Upon leaving school he embarked on a commercial apprenticeship.

He was one of the original members of the Spencer Davis Group, along with Spencer Davis and the brothers Steve and Muff Winwood. York stayed with the band until 1969. He left the Spencer Davis Group to form Hardin and York with Eddie Hardin. York was a member of Eric Clapton's Powerhouse—a short-lived blues band in 1966. It starred Eric Clapton (guitar), and featured Paul Jones (harmonica) and Jack Bruce (bass), Steve Winwood (vocals) with York (drums), and Ben Palmer (piano). Under the name of The Blueshounds (with Roger Hill, guitar, and Graham Gallery, bass) he backed New Orleans singer and piano player Cousin Joe on his 1974 album "Soul-shouting Bluesman from New Orleans" (Big Bear Records).

In the 80s he fronted an all-star band called Olympic Rock & Blues Circus featuring a rotating line-up of the likes of Jon Lord, Miller Anderson, Tony Ashton, Brian Auger, Zoot Money, Colin Hodgkinson, Chris Farlowe and many others. Olympic Rock & Blues Circus toured primarily in Germany, in 1981/82 and 1989, and also appeared sporadically in the UK under the name Endangered Species.

In February 1987, York started his first series of "Superdrumming" featuring Ian Paice, Louie Bellson, Cozy Powell, Gerry Brown and Simon Phillips. The next year, 1988, the second series of "Superdrumming" featured Billy Cobham, Bill Bruford, Dave Mattacks, Zak Starkey, Nicko McBrain, Jon Lord and Eddie Hardin. The third series of "Superdrumming" featured Jon Hiseman, Steve Ferrone, Mark Brzezicki, Trilok Gurtu and the return of Ian Paice.

The band on this series featured Miller Anderson, Colin Hodgkinson, Brian Auger, Jon Lord and Barbara Thompson. In 1989, Brian Auger was musical director for the thirteen-part film retrospective series Villa Fantastica, made for German TV. A live recording of the series, Super Jam (1990), featured Brian Auger on piano, York on drums, Dick Morrissey on tenor saxophone, Roy Williams on trombone, Harvey Weston on bass guitar, plus the singers Zoot Money and Maria Muldaur. In 1990, the fourth series of "Superdrumming" was held in Freiburg, Germany with drummers Ian Paice, Jon Hiseman, Cozy Powell and York.

York has played drums for German entertainer and jazz musician Helge Schneider several times since 2004, both on Schneider's recordings and on tour. York also acted in Schneider's film Jazzclub. York participated in the 'Drum Legends' project with Herman Rarebell, where they released a live CD and DVD along with jazz drummer Charly Antolini.