Corky Laing
| Corky Laing | |
|---|---|
Laing; February, 2016, Hamburg
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Laurence Gordon Laing |
| Born |
January 26, 1948 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Genres | Rock, hard rock, psychedelic rock, blues-rock, heavy metal |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Drums, guitar |
| Years active | 1961–present |
| Labels | Elektra, Epic, Lightyear |
| Associated acts | Mountain, West, Bruce and Laing, Cork |
Laurence Gordon "Corky" Laing (born January 26, 1948) is a Canadian rock drummer, best known as a longtime member of pioneering American hard rock band Mountain.
A native of Montreal, Quebec, Laing was the youngest in a family of five children. His eldest sister Carol was followed by triplet brothers, Jeffrey, Leslie, and Stephen, and then by Corky. According to Corky, his brothers called him "Gorky" because they could not pronounce his given name "Gordon". "Gorky" eventually morphed into Corky, a moniker which has remained with him throughout his career.
Getting his break playing drums for vocal group The Ink Spots in 1961, he later played in a group called Energy, who were produced by Cream collaborator and Laing's future bandmate Felix Pappalardi. Laing left Energy in 1969 to replace drummer N.D. Smart in a hard rock outfit and heavy metal forerunner Mountain, who, with Laing at the drum kit, released three albums and the classic song "Mississippi Queen" between 1970 and 1971.
After the band's first breakup the following year, Laing and Mountain bandmate Leslie West went on to form blues-rock power trio West, Bruce and Laing with former Cream bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce. West, Bruce and Laing produced two studio albums and a live release before Mountain reformed without Laing in 1974 and released two more albums, Avalanche (with Laing) and the live Twin Peaks(without Laing), only to break up again shortly after. The band would once again reconvene with Laing in 1985 upon the release of Go For Your Life, and Laing has continued with them to this day, most recently working on the band's 2007 Bob Dylan cover album Masters of War.
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