Corky Laing

Laurence Gordon "Corky" Laing (born January 26, 1948) is a Canadian rock drummer, best known as a longtime member of the pioneering American hard rock band Mountain. He and guitarist/vocalist Leslie West were the only members to appear on every studio album.

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 the vocal group The Ink Spots in 1961, he later played in a group called Energy, which was 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.

Laing spontaneously wrote most of "Mississippi Queen" while he was playing a show with his previous group, Energy. The overworked air-conditioning in the hot club coupled with the power draw of the equipment caused the power to go out. Because his drums were acoustic Laing continued to play for over an hour to keep the audience dancing, namely an attractive Southern woman who was dancing in the emergency lights. He shouted out some of the lyrics, "Mississippi Queen, do you know what I mean”, accompanied with his signature cowbell the iconic track would later become known for.

After the band's first breakup the following year, Laing and Mountain bandmate Leslie West went on to form the 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 1973 for a Japanese tour releasing the live Twin Peaks. Laing rejoined in 1974 recording Avalanche only for Mountain to break up again shortly after. The band would once again reconvene with guitarist Leslie West and Laing in 1985 for the release of Go For Your Life, and Laing has continued with them, most recently working on the band's 2007 Bob Dylan cover album Masters of War.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.