10cc drummer Paul Burgess announces departure from the band

Paul Burgess (middle) with 10cc (Image credit: Nick Oliver)

Longstanding 10cc drummer Paul Burgess has announced his departure from the band, ending a relationship that stretches back over 50 years to 1973.

Burgess made the announcement at the end of the band's recent run of US dates. His performance with 10cc in Alexandria, Virginia, was his last.

“Having enjoyed many years with 10cc, I'm sorry to say that for me the rigours of touring have become incommensurate with age, and it's time to put excessive hours spent waiting in airports and sitting on tour buses behind me," Burgess states.

“I have no intention of retiring and will continue to play, but at a more agreeable pace, working with past associates and a new band of like-minded musicians, The Guilty Men.”

“When Paul and I started working together in 10cc, we never imagined in our wildest dreams that we would still be doing it even 30 years later, let alone 52,” adds 10cc leader and co-founder Graham Gouldman. “Paul is my longest-running musical associate and it will be strange to turn around and see someone else on drums, but I can fully understand his desire to withdraw from sitting on a plane for 14 hours and then changing hotel each day for several weeks."

Burgess has toured with 10cc since 1973, joining as a full-time band member in 1976 following the departure of Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, and subsequently featured on Deceptive Bends (1977), Bloody Tourists (1978), Look Hear? (1980) and Ten Out Of 10 (1981). He also played drums on Gouldman's soundtrack to the Animalympics film of 1980 and Eric Stewart's first two solo albums. He rejoined the band in 1999 and has remained with them ever since.

Away from 10cc, Burgess has also drummed with Camel, Jethro Tull, Magna Carta, The Icicle Works, Joan Armatrading, Gloria Gaynor and Alvin Stardust among others.

He currently features in the aforementioned The Guilty Men, alongside Craig Fletcher and Jez Smith from John Lees' Barclay James Harvest and singer-songwriter Clive Gregson.

Burgess is replaced in 10cc by drummer, percussionist and multi-instrumentalist Ben Stone, who has also worked with Mike + The Mechanics and Bonnie Tyler and who has previously deputised for Burgess in 10cc.

10cc will tour the UK with their And Another Bloody Greatest Hits Tour in 2026.

Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.

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