Long time drummer of the The Doobie Brothers, Mike Hossack, has died from cancer.
March 14, 2012- Mike Hossack, the longtime drummer of the rock group The Doobie Brothers, died on Monday at 65 from cancer said the manager of the band. Hossack was instrumental in giving the band the distinctive sound it had in the 1970s. He was one of two drummers the band used at the same time. He died peacefully in Dubois, Wyoming at his home said Bruce Cohn his manager.
In a statement Cohn said, “There was not anyone like Mike. He was a Doobie Brother for a long time.” The statement concluded with, “He was always a fighter and battled hard against cancer. His family as well as the band will miss him greatly.”
Hossack was born in New Jersey and started playing drums when he was 12. He served in Vietnam with the Navy in the 1960s and had planned to enter law enforcement before he landed his first gig with the California band Mourning Reign.
That gig eventually led him to be invited to play with The Doobie Brothers from northern California, in 1971. He was the band’s second drummer at the time and could be heard on hit songs such as Blackwater, China Grove and Listen to the Music.
In 1973, he left the Doobie Brothers to form Bonaroo. He opened a Hollywood studio and then rejoined the band in 1987 and stayed with them through the making of World Gone Crazy in 2010.
