According to blabbermouth.net, Brit Turner, drummer for the Southern rock band Blackberry Smoke, has died at age 57. The musician was diagnosed with glioblastoma, which is a cancer of the brain and underwent surgery for the condition in November 2022. Following that treatment, Turner continued to perform with Blackberry Smoke on tour through December 2023.
Turner was born in Michigan and raised in Georgia. In 2000, he and his brother formed Blackberry Smoke with singer-guitarist Charlie Sar and guitarist Paul Jackson. The band’s first album, The Whippoorwhill, was released in 2012 through country star Zac Brown’s Southern Ground label. Subsequent albums came out through Rounder and Thirty Tigers. The group was often placed on multiple genre charts, including the country albums chart, where their 2015 album Holding All the Roses became the first independent release to go number one.
To announce the sad new, Blackberry Smoke went on social media to tell the world about Turner’s passing: “It is with the deepest sorrow that we inform everyone that our brother Brit Turner has moved on from this life. If you had the privilege of knowing Brit on any level, you know he was the most caring, empathetic, driven and endearing person one could ever hope to meet.”
The band continues with: “Brit was Blackberry Smoke’s True North, the compass that instituted the ideology that will continue to guide this band. Brit has battled glioblastoma since his diagnosis in the fall of 2022 and fought every day. We ask for prayers for his family and band brothers. More information on arrangements will be forthcoming. Thank you to everyone who has supported and been there for Brit and his family through this fight.”
Also Blackberry Smoke has suggested on social media that anyone interested in helping out Turner’s family to visit this page for Families and Communities Together Relief (FACT), which offers aid to families whose principal bread-winner is struck by a serious illness.
The group’s latest album, Be Right Here, came out last month and just debuted at number 23 on the Billboard rock album chart and number 26 on Billboard’s country albums chart.
Blackberry Smoke has continued to tour into 2024 with a substitute drummer since the beginning of the year. Turner’s health issues first became known when suffered a heart attack at home in August 2022, where he received a stent. In November of that year, he was taken to the ER and an MRI revealed a tumor on his brain that was described as rare and aggressive. But later in the month, Turner returned to playing drums on tour within weeks of having part of his skull removed in order to have the tumor operated on.
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