Ginger Baker was born Peter Edward Baker in Lewisham, South London on 19 August 1939.
As a teen, he trained and competed as a racing cyclist, developing strong leg muscles which later contributed to his skill on the double bass drums. Ginger had always planned on becoming a professional cyclist, until he bought his first drum kit at the age of 15. Baker was keenly interested in modern art and jazz, a rebellious beatnik with an eccentric appearance and artistic flair. Later, he would become interested in sculpture, painting, rally driving and polo. It was his wide range of interests which led Ginger to take up the trumpet in the local Air Training Corp band. Watching the drummer gave Ginger the idea of playing drums himself. Ginger recalls his first experience on drums: "I had been into drums from a listening point of view for quite a time. I used to bang on the table with knives and forks and drive everybody mad. I used to get the kids at school dancing by banging rhythms on the school desk! They kept on at me to sit in with this band. The band wasn't very keen, but in the end I sat in and played the bollocks off their drummer. And that was the first time I'd sat on a kit. I heard one of the band turn round and say: 'Christ, we've got a drummer' and I thought, 'Hello, this is something I can do'." After playing for only a few months, Ginger got a job with a local trad jazz band led by Bob Wallis. At the age of 16, he quit his job, left home, and spent a year on the road. After some time, Ginger got fed up with his kit. With his characteristic achiever's attitude, he decided to make his own: "I got this great idea for using Perspex," recalls Ginger. "It was like wood to work on, but it was smooth, and it would save painting the inside of the drum shell with gloss paint. So I bent the shells and shaped them over a gas stove." Ginger made the kit in 1961 and used it until 1966, when he bought his first Ludwig set. Sadly, it was this home-made set that Jack Bruce would demolish with his upright bass in an on-stage brawl with Baker during the Graham Bond days. Bruce later recalled that the kit sounded spectacular -- like no other kit he'd heard before. Listening to records, Ginger absorbed the playing of Baby Dodds and Alton Red. Then he discovered Max Roach. Applying Roach's technique, Ginger's wild and unconventional playing got him fired from a few bands, but ultimately it would develop into the rhythmic genius that would astound drummers around the world. Moving on to London's West End, he got another band job: "I got a reading gig, and I couldn't read. I had to learn to read music in a fortnight, to get the gig. It took me a week to find out what a repeat sign meant. I couldn't figure out why I was getting to the end of a part and the band was still playing!" Don't read more: http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Ginger_Baker.html
