Viv Prince death: Celebrated Pretty Things drummer dies, aged 84

The Pretty Things drummer Viv Prince has died at the age of 84.

Known for his rowdy and eccentric on-stage behaviour, Prince enjoyed a controversial 18-month stint in the rock group from 1964 to 1965, and is said to have influenced Keith Moon, The Who’s legendary drummer.

News of Prince’s death was shared on Instagram by the White Stripes frontman Jack White, who described the late musician as “wild and full of abandon”.

“I’ve received word through my friend John Baker, who knew the man well, that the great Viv Prince has just passed on,” he wrote.

“Viv was an incredible drummer, wild and full of abandon. He played for the band the Pretty Things, and he influenced many other musicians like Keith Moon.”

Continuing his tribute, White wrote that he had met Prince personally “some years ago” while the drummer was working on his farm in Portugal.

“He was an inspired and eccentric rock and roller, and maybe I’ll have to put together a team to work on a documentary about this man one day,” White added.

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“Safe travels into the sweet beyond Viv, you were one of the real ones.”

Born in Loughborough in 1941, Prince started as a jazz drummer, performing in several local groups throughout the early 1960s.

He also worked as a session musician and earned a burgeoning reputation for his distinctive and charismatic drumming style.

Having joined the Pretty Things in 1964, Prince recorded two albums with the counter-cultural rock group: 1965’sThe Pretty Things and Get the Picture?

The drummer’s unruly antics became the focus of much of the media coverage of the band. He would engage in brazen pranks onstage, such as laying carpeting during other artists’ performances. Prince was expelled from the band towards the end of 1965.

In the years after his work with Pretty Things, Prince performed with artists such as the Honeycombs, the Who, and Hawkwind, and recorded with artists including Chris Barber.

Later in life, he reportedly joined the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, only to be ejected for misbehaviour.

In 1999, the Pretty Things recorded a song called “Vivian Prince” as a tribute to their former bandmate, included on the album Rage Before Beauty.