Malcolm Holmes (born 28 July 1960) is a British

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

. He is best known for being the original drummer with

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are an English electronic music, electronic band formed in Meols, Merseyside in 1978 by Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals). Regarded as pioneers of electronic musi ...

Biography

Holmes’ first drumming sessions were for the Id, who included future members of OMD. He also played on sessions for

the Pale Fountains The Pale Fountains were an English band formed in Liverpool in 1980, and composed of Mick Head (vocalist/guitarist), Chris McCaffery (bassist), Thomas Whelan (drummer), trumpet player Andy Diagram (French horn, horns) and Ken Moss (guitarist). ...

, Dalek I Love You,

the Lightning Seeds The Lightning Seeds (also known as Lightning Seeds) are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1989 by Ian Broudie (vocals, guitar, producer), formerly of the bands Big in Japan (band), Big in Japan, Care (band), Care, and Ori ...

and Margi Clarke, a.k.a. Margox in the late 1970s. He joined OMD in 1980. He played on over 130 of the band's songs as well contributing live performances at hundreds of OMD concerts. On his first ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

'' TV performance in 1980, he performed standing up, playing an electronic drum kit. He used a home made

electronic drum Electronic drums are a modern electronic musical instrument, primarily designed to serve as an alternative to an acoustic drum kit. Electronic drums consist of an electronic sound module which produces the Drum synthesiser, synthesized or Sampler ...

kit for live performances before they became available to the mass market. He rejoined OMD when they reformed in 2006. In July 2013, while touring with OMD in Toronto, in reported stage temperatures of above 45 degrees Celsius, he collapsed during a show. They subsequently left the stage, where Holmes' heart stopped. The band later announced the cancellation of the rest of their tour, which included a headlining slot at Rewind Festival in Scotland on 28 July 2013, his 53rd birthday. After making a steady recovery over the following months, Holmes retired from live performances, but continues to work in the music industry.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holmes, Malcolm 1960 births British male drummers English rock drummers New wave drummers English new wave musicians Musicians from Birkenhead Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark members Living people