Buffalo Springfield drummer Dewey Martin was recently found dead in his apartment by his roomate. He died of natural causes. The Springfield were a great band, which of course launched the careers of Neil Young and Stephen Stills, as well as Richie Furay (who joined country soft rock band Poco) and Jim Messina (who went on to a big pop career with Kenny Loggins).Martin, who played with legends including Patsy Cline, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Faron Young, The Everly Brothers and Charlie Rich, among others before founding The Springfield, never really got his career off of the ground afterwards. He formed different bands here and there, but mainly tried to revive Springfield, often with bassist Bruce Palmer, leading to legal battles with Stills and Young, who didn't want them using the band's name. But it must have hurt to see those guys with such stellar careers. There were often rumors of a full-on Springfield reunion, but it never happened. Even in 1997, when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, there was talk of a performance, but Neil ducked out at the last minute, when he found out that the show was going to be televised (which shouldn't have come as a surprise: when he was inducted a few years earlier as a solo artist, the show was broadcast on MTV).
I don't know too much about the guy, but the Springfield made great music. If you want to check it out, pick up Retrospective, a single CD compilation. They only had three albums, all of which were great (I like the first one best): 1966's Buffalo Springfield, 1967's Buffalo Springfield Again and 1968's Last Time Around.
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