Blackberry Smoke Drummer Brit Turner Dead at 57

Blackberry Smoke drummer Brit Turner died on Sunday following a battle with glioblastoma, a fast-growing form of brain cancer. He was 57 years old.

The news was announced via the band’s social media.

“It is with the deepest sorrow that we inform everyone that our brother Brit Turner has moved on from this life,” read the post. “If you had the privilege of knowing Brit on any level, you know he was the most caring, empathetic, driven and endearing person one could ever hope to meet. Brit was Blackberry Smoke’s True North, the compass that instituted the ideology that will continue to guide this band.”

Turner had been diagnosed with glioblastoma in the fall of 2022, undergoing surgery at the time. “Thank you to everyone who has supported and been there for Brit and his family during this fight,” the post concluded.

Turner, who was born in Mt. Clemons, Michigan but raised in Smyrna, Georgia, started playing drums at an early age.

“I received a snare drum for Christmas from my parents before the sixth grade. It was a purple sparkle Stewart set,” he said to Modern Drummer in 2012. “My father played in a big band in the early days while becoming an officer in the air force. Granny played piano and my uncle Brit plays guitar. I guess that’s how I got exposed to music.”

In 1988, he formed a thrash-metal band called Nihilist with his brother Richard Turner on bass, but 12 years later in 2000, he founded Blackberry Smoke with Charlie Starr and Paul Jackson.

“After I got heavy metal out of my system,” he recalled in 2012, “it was on to straight up rock and roll, Americana, Southern rock and traditional country.”

Even as Turner battled cancer in late 2022 into 2023, Blackberry Smoke continued to record new music, specifically their most recent release, 2024’s Be Right Here, a process Starr said was helpful for the band to focus on.

“It was so good for us to be making music with Brit as he was undergoing treatment,” he said to Guitar Player earlier this year. “I think that whole thing really brought us closer, just knowing that one of our brothers needed love and support. I think it gave the record some urgency.”