Rick Davies, co-founder and lead singer of British rock band Supertramp, died Saturday, September 6, 2025, at his home in East Hampton, New York, after a decade-long battle with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer. He was 81.
The band announced Davies’ death on Monday through their official website and social media channels. Davies had been battling the cancer for 10 years, which prevented him from touring in recent years.
Born July 22, 1944, in Swindon, Wiltshire, England, Davies discovered his passion for music as a child after hearing Gene Krupa’s “Drummin’ Man,” which grew into a lifelong love of jazz, blues and rock music. At age 25, he placed an advertisement in the British music publication Melody Maker seeking musical collaborators.
Roger Hodgson, then 19, responded to the advertisement, and the duo began practicing at a farmhouse in Kent. Initially calling themselves Daddy, Davies and Hodgson formed the partnership that would evolve into Supertramp in 1969. The band took its name from a 1908 book titled “The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp.”
The band’s early years were marked by exploration as they developed their distinctive sound. Supertramp’s commercial breakthrough came in 1974 with their third album, “Crime of the Century,” which featured Davies’ composition “Bloody Well Right.” The song showcased his memorable, jazzy introduction on the Wurlitzer electric piano, which became a signature element of the band’s sound.
Davies and Hodgson formed a unique creative partnership, with Davies bringing working-class sensibilities rooted in jazz and blues, while Hodgson contributed classical training and an ethereal vocal style. The duo shared similar vocal timbres and often split songwriting credits, though their creative relationship grew more distant over time.
Supertramp achieved massive commercial success with their 1979 album “Breakfast in America,” which spent six weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart and sold more than 18 million copies worldwide. The album earned the band two Grammy Awards and spawned multiple hit singles, including “The Logical Song” and “Take the Long Way Home,” both penned by Hodgson, and Davies’ composition “Goodbye Stranger.”
“Goodbye Stranger,” which reached number 15 on the charts, told the story of a one-night stand and became one of Davies’ most recognizable vocal performances. The song was memorably featured in Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1999 film “Magnolia” during a dramatic scene starring William H. Macy.
The band also achieved chart success with earlier singles, including “Dreamer” from “Crime of the Century” and “Give a Little Bit” from their 1977 album “Even in the Quietest Moments.” These songs, along with later hits like “It’s Raining Again,” became staples of classic rock radio and have collectively garnered more than 500 million streams on Spotify.
Success eventually strained the relationship between Davies and Hodgson. Following their 1983 tour supporting “Famous Last Words,” Hodgson left the band, later explaining that the group had become stagnant and he could no longer grow creatively within its confines.
Davies continued leading Supertramp without Hodgson, taking on both vocal parts during live performances. The band disbanded in 1988 but reformed in 1996, continuing to tour and record intermittently until their final performance in Madrid in 2012.
When Davies received his cancer diagnosis in 2015, it ended plans for a European tour. Unable to continue touring with Supertramp due to his health challenges, he performed locally on Long Island with a group called Ricky and the Rockets.
The band’s tribute described Davies as being known for “his warmth, resilience, and devotion to his wife Sue, with whom he shared over five decades.” Sue Davies also served as his career manager throughout their marriage.
Beyond their commercial success, Supertramp’s music has been featured in numerous films and television shows, including “Superman” (1978), “The Simpsons,” “Freaks & Geeks,” “I, Tonya,” “The Morning Show,” “Cruella,” and “Empire of Light.” The band achieved six Top 10 albums in Britain between 1974 and 1992, with “Breakfast in America” and “Famous Last Words” also topping charts in various European countries and Canada.
