Tim Bachman, a founding member of the Canadian rock band Bachman-Turner Overdrive, has died. He was 71.
His son Paxton Bachman posted the news on Facebook on Friday. His brother Randy Bachman confirmed the death through his manager on Sunday. Tim Bachman is pictured in the photo above on the far right. Bachman’s son explains that his dad’s condition worsened rapidly and tests revealed he had cancer spread throughout his brain.
Bachman-Turner Overdrive released its first self titled debut album in May 1973 and its second album, Bachman-Turner Overdrive II in December 1973. Hit singles “Let It Ride” and “Takin’ Care of Business” helped make the Winnipeg band a huge hit in both the United States and Canada. It was formed in 1970 after Randy Bachman left The Guess Who in 1970.
Randy Bachman released two albums as the frontman for Brave Belt, which included future BTO members Tim and Robbie Bachman and Fred Turner. Tim Bachman says he welcomed the change of the band’s sound between Brave Belt and becoming Bachman-Turner Overdrive. “We were never a heavy metal band, but we were as heavy as it got in the early ’70s,” he told a reporter in 1984.
Tim Bachman played guitar and sang on three non-singles from the first two albums, but left the group in 1974. He rejoined BTO to tour with them over the course of the years, including in 1986 when the band opened some dates for Van Halen.
BTO was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2014. His death follows his brother Robbie Bachman, who died in January 2023 at 69. His brother Gary Bachman, who served as the band’s first manager, passed away in June 2020.
Randy Bachman continues to tour with his son Tal Bachman and hosts a program called Vinyl Tap, which airs on Canadian radio stations.