Todd Nance (November 20, 1962August 19, 2020) was an American musician. He was best known as the original drummer of

Widespread Panic Widespread Panic is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. The current lineup includes guitarist/singer John Bell (musician), John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Duane Trucks, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, keyboardist John "JoJ ...

, a band he was a member of until his departure in 2016. He struggled with chronic illness for the remainder of his life, ultimately leading up to his death in 2020.

Early life

Todd Nance was born in

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

, Tennessee. As a child, he began playing the guitar; subsequently he was given his first drum kit on Christmas Day, 1975. It was around this time that he attended his first concert,

Lynyrd Skynyrd Lynyrd Skynyrd (, ) is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1964. The group originally formed as My Backyard and comprised Ronnie Van Zant (vocals), Gary Rossington (guitar), Allen Collins (guitar), Larry Junstrom ...

, and was inspired to pursue music more seriously. He first met his future Widespread Panic bandmate Michael Houser in high school in either 1977 or 1978 and they formed the band Just Us. After graduating from

Chattanooga Central High School Chattanooga Central High School is a public high school in Harrison, Tennessee, operated by the Hamilton County Board of Education. Central High School opened in September 1907 on Dodds Avenue in Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in H ...

in 1981, Nance moved to Atlanta.

Widespread Panic

Nance reconnected with Michael Houser in 1986 and joined the band that Houser had formed with John Bell and Dave Schools. The quartet performed their first show as Widespread Panic in February that same year. They developed a local following around

Athens, Georgia Athens is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Downtown Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta. The University of Georgia, the state's flagship public university and an Research I university, ...

before developing into a nationally known act. Nance played drums on the band's first eleven studio albums (he did not perform on their 2015 album, ''

Street Dogs Street Dogs is an American punk rock band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 2002 by former Dropkick Murphys singer Mike McColgan. The band disbanded in early 2020 after 17 years together but reunited again in 2024. History In 1997, McC ...

'', but he did receive co-writing credit on all of the album's tracks). Along with all the other members of Widespread Panic, Nance was a member of the band brute. between 1995 and 2002. This band consisted of everyone in Widespread Panic at the time (except for Domingo Ortiz, although he did perform on the band's second album) and

Vic Chesnutt James Victor Chesnutt (November 12, 1964 – December 25, 2009) was an American singer-songwriter from Athens, Georgia. His first album, Little (album), ''Little'', was released in 1990. His commercial breakthrough came in 1996 with the rele ...

. They released two albums, '' Nine High a Pallet'' and '' Co-Balt''. He took a hiatus from Widespread Panic beginning in late 2014 to deal with personal matters. He was replaced for all live dates by Duane Trucks. He rejoined the band for four shows in February 2016 at their "Panic en La Playa" destination event. Following this, Widespread Panic announced that Nance had officially left the band and would be replaced by Trucks permanently.

Other projects

Nance co-founded the supergroup Barbara Cue in 1997 with William Tonks,

John Neff John B. Neff (September 19, 1931 – June 4, 2019) was an American investor, mutual fund manager, and philanthropist. He was notable for his contrarian and value investing styles as well as for heading Vanguard's Windsor Fund. Windsor becam ...

, Jon Mills, and Crumpy Edwards. The project was originally formed as an

NRBQ NRBQ is an American rock band founded by Terry Adams (piano), Steve Ferguson (guitar) and Joey Spampinato (bass). Originally the "New Rhythm and Blues Quintet", the group was formed circa 1965. Adams disbanded it for a time, and the group re ...

cover band A cover band (or covers band) is a band that plays songs recorded by someone else, sometimes mimicking the original as accurately as possible, and sometimes re-interpreting or changing the original. These remade songs are known as cover songs. N ...

, but they soon developed their own material and began recording; they released three studio albums. During his hiatus from Widespread Panic, Nance performed sporadically with a band billed as Todd Nance & Friends. Some musicians who performed with him in this group included Luther Dickinson, Jerry Joseph, and David Barbe. In addition to these bands, Nance sat in with a number of bands following his hiatus and departure from Widespread Panic including Bloodkin and the Dyrty Byrds.

Death

Nance died on August 19, 2020, in

. He was 57; his death was first announced on Facebook by collaborator Cody Dickinson and was later confirmed by ''

Relix ''Relix'', originally and occasionally later ''Dead Relix'', is a magazine that focuses on live and improvisational music. The magazine was launched in 1974 as a handmade newsletter devoted to connecting people who recorded Grateful Dead concer ...

''. Details on the chronic illness that led to his death have not been disclosed.

References

External links

Friends of Todd Nance on Facebook
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nance, Todd 1962 births 2020 deaths 20th-century American drummers 20th-century American male musicians American male drummers Musicians from Chattanooga, Tennessee Widespread Panic members Drummers from Tennessee