Ginger Baker’s son, Kofi, has revealed his tumultuous relationship with his the former Cream drummer.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Kofi Baker called his dad “an asshole”, claiming that that Ginger “smacked him around a little” during drum lessons when he was a child.
“Taking lessons from my dad wasn't the easiest thing,” said Kofi. “If I didn't get something right immediately he'd shout and swear at me and smack me around a little bit.”
Asked about the pressures of being the son of legendary drummer, Kofi replied: “It's never really bothered me because my dad is such an asshole anyway that it's not like I was stressed about making him proud or anything. So, no, it wasn't really stressful.”
Baker outlined the strained relationship he and his sisters, Nettie and Leda, have with their father. He claimed that his family were evicted when Ginger left, and that Kofi ended up sleeping on the streets. Baker says that he last saw his father two years ago, when both men were playing shows in Chicago.
“I went to to see him at his show and went backstage and he basically told me to fuck off and leave him alone,” he said.
Baker launched Kofi Baker's Cream Experience in the mid-00s, shortly after Cream played reunion shows in London and New York. He recently joined forces with Malcolm Bruce, son of late Cream bassist Jack Bruce, and Eric Clapton’s nephew Will Johns for a tour titled The Music Of Cream.
Ginger Baker has suffered multiple health problems in recent years. In 2016, he was forced to cancel a tour after being diagnosed with heart problems. A few months later, it was revealed that he was recovering from “a serious fall.”
Asked how he would feel when his father dies, Kofi Baker replied: It's kind of like he's already dead. He's disowned me so many times in my life. It's like he's been dead to me for a long time anyway.
