Rick Davies, Supertramp cofounder, dies at 81

Rick Davies, the cofounder, singer, keyboardist and primary songwriter of the British rock band Supertramp, died on September 5 at his home on Long Island after a long battle with cancer, the band announced. He was 81. The Supertramp Partnership said in a statement that Davies passed away following a prolonged illness and offered condolences to his widow, Sue Davies.

Davies helped form Supertramp in London around 1969 and, together with Roger Hodgson, steered the group from progressive rock beginnings toward a pop-rock sound that produced international hits in the 1970s. Davies wrote and sang several of the band’s best-known tracks, including Bloody Well Right and Goodbye Stranger, and his electric piano helped drive songs such as The Logical Song, which Hodgson wrote and sang. The band’s 1974 album Crime of the Century marked their first major breakthrough, and their 1979 album Breakfast in America became their biggest commercial success, selling millions of copies worldwide, winning two Grammy Awards and earning an Album of the Year nomination.

Born in Swindon, England, in 1944, Davies began his musical life as a drummer before switching to keyboards. He played in early...