Tim Bachman, a founding member of Bachman-Turner Overdrive, dead at 71 | CBC News

Tim Bachman, a founding member of the Canadian rock band Bachman-Turner Overdrive, has died. He was 71.

Randy Bachman confirmed the death of his brother through his manager on Sunday.

Tim Bachman’s son, Paxton Bachman, posted on Facebook that his father died Friday, explaining that he got a call last week from the care home where his father was staying, telling him that his dad’s condition had worsened and that later tests revealed cancer throughout his brain.

Winnipeg-based BTO released its first album in May 1973 and the band’s second album, Bachman-Turner Overdrive II, released in December 1973, became a huge hit in the U.S. and Canada, with hit singles Let it Ride and Takin’ Care of Business. 

The group started after Randy Bachman left The Guess Who in 1970. He released two albums leading the band Brave Belt, which by the end of its tenure included future BTO members Tim and Robbie Bachman, his younger brothers, as well as Fred Turner.

The switch from Brave Belt’s softer sound to the hard-charging riffs of BTO was welcomed by Tim Bachman.

“We were never a heavy metal band, but we were as heavy as it got in the early ’70s,” he told the Kingston Whig-Standard in 1984.

Rejoined for ’80s shows

Tim Bachman, who played guitar and sang on three non-singles from BTO’s first two albums, left the group in 1974 but had rejoined BTO for tours over the years, including in 1986, when the band opened some dates on Van Halen’s 5150 tour.

BTO was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2014.

Tim Bachman was working in real estate in Abbotsford, B.C., when he was charged by police in 2010 with three sexual offences involving a person under 14. He was later acquitted at trial.

His death follows that of his brother Robbie, in January, at the age of 69.

Brother Gary Bachman, the band’s first manager, died in June 2020.

Randy Bachman continues to tour, often with his son Tal, while hosting his program Vinyl Tap, which airs on a number of Canadian radio stations after its run on CBC Radio from 2005 to 2021.