Urge Overkill drummer Blackie Onassis dead at 57
Johnny ‘Blackie Onassis’ Rowan, the classic lineup drummer of Chicago rock band Urge Overkill, has died aged 57. Most notably, the group recorded a popular cover of Neil Diamond song ‘Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon’ for Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction soundtrack.
The band announced the drummer’s passing in a post on Instagram. They wrote: “Urge Overkill is saddened to report that Blackie has passed away. Please respect our privacy at this time. We are sending much love to his family and all his fans. We know he will be missed”.
At present, no official cause of death has been confirmed. In a later post on Instagram, the band shared an image of Rowan with actor and Tenacious D musician Jack Black. “Thank you for the love and support today. We wanted to share this photo of Blackie, we hope you like it as much as we do,” Urge Overkill wrote in the caption.
Jack Black commented on the post with a touching tribute to the late drummer. “Loved Blackie. ‘Supersonic Storybook’. ‘Saturation’. ‘Exit the Dragon’. Some of my favourite albums of all time! He was a wild card and a force of nature. Gonna miss him.”
In the early 1990s, Rowan joined Urge Overkill to offer beats and vocals to three of the group’s early albums: 1991’s The Supersonic Storybook, 1993’s Saturation, and 1995’s Exit The Dragon.
Rowan also played a pivotal role in the creation of the band’s noteworthy six-track EP titled Stull, which arrived in 1992. Urge Overkill broke up in 1997 before reforming in 2004 without Rowan behind the drums.
Watch the scene from Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction featuring Urge Overkill’s Neil Diamond cover below.
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