Pete de Freitas

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Pete de Freitas

| image = Pete_de_Freitas.png

| caption = De Freitas in 1985

| image_size =

| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist

| birth_name = Peter Louis Vincent de Freitas

| alias =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1961|08|02|df=y}}

| birth_place = Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1989|06|14|1961|08|02|df=y}}

| death_place = Longdon Green, England

| origin =

| instrument = Drums, percussion

| genre = Post-punk, alternative rock

| occupation = Musician

| years_active = 1979–1989

| label =

| past_member_of = Echo & the Bunnymen, The Wild Swans, The Sex Gods

| website =

}}

Peter Louis Vincent de Freitas (2 August 1961 – 14 June 1989) was an English musician and producer. He was the drummer in Echo & the Bunnymen, and performed on their first five albums.

Career

De Freitas joined the Bunnymen in 1979, replacing a drum machine.{{Cite web|url=http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/12-things-you-didnt-know-10456671|title=12 Things you didn't know about Echo & the Bunnymen|first=Fionnuala|last=Bourke|date=17 November 2015|website=birminghammail}} Bunnymen's singer Ian McCulloch said they told him "to get stuck into the toms. Budgie, of the musical group Siouxsie and the Banshees, was the only other drummer doing that stuff at the time and Pete loved his drumming".{{cite book|last=Adams|first=Chris|title=Turquoise Days: The Weird World of Echo & the Bunnymen|publisher=NY: Soft Skull Press|year=2002|isbn=1887128891|page=61|quote=we banned hi-hats and anything else that 'tsss.' We told him to get stuck into the toms. Budgie [from the Banshees] was the only other drumming doing that stuff at the time and Pete loved his drumming. - Ian McCulloch, 1995}}

He funded, produced, and played drums under the name Louis Vincent on the first single of the Wild Swans, "The Revolutionary Spirit", in 1982, for the Zoo Records label.{{Cite web|url=https://www.c86show.org/e/the-wild-swans-with-paul-simpson-in-conversation/|title=The Wild Swans with Paul Simpson in conversation|website=C86show.org|access-date=14 March 2023}}

In 1985, de Freitas temporarily left the band. He spent several months drinking in New Orleans, while attempting to form a new group, the Sex Gods. By 1987, he returned to the Bunnymen to record their fifth album, though only as a part-time member.{{cite web |url=http://www.pauldunoyer.com/pages/journalism/journalism_item.asp?journalismID=280 |title=Paul Du Noyer interviews Echo & The Bunnymen |publisher=Pauldunoyer.com |access-date=24 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527233845/http://www.pauldunoyer.com/pages/journalism/journalism_item.asp?journalismID=280 |archive-date=27 May 2015 |url-status=dead }} He was married in the same year and his daughter Lucie Marie was born in 1988.{{Cite web|url=https://www.mojo4music.com/articles/14865/echo-bunnymen-pete-de-freitas-remembered|title=Echo & The Bunnymen's 'Bright And Beautiful' Pete De Freitas Remembered|website=Mojo|year=2014 }}

Death

De Freitas died in a motorcycle accident in 1989 at the age of 27, on his way to Liverpool from London. He was riding a 900cc Ducati motorcycle on the A51 road in Longdon Green, Staffordshire when he collided with a motor vehicle at approximately 16:00. His ashes are buried at Whitehill Burial Ground in Goring-on-Thames.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_1IsKvqj5tcC&q=%22pete+de+freitas%22+goring+on+thames&pg=PA248 |title=The Day the Music Died – Les MacDonald – Google Books |date=July 2010|isbn=9781453522677 |last1=MacDonald |first1=Les |publisher=Xlibris Corporation }}{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Is-7woojs8 |title=The Graves of the 27 Club |author=Hollywood Graveyard |date=November 27, 2022 |via=YouTube |time=20:30}}

Personal life

De Freitas was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, and educated by the Benedictines at Downside School in Somerset, south-west England. His father, Denis, was a copyright lawyer.{{cite web |author=Maureen Duffy |date=24 January 2004 |title=Obituary: Denis de Freitas |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/jan/24/guardianobituaries |work=The Guardian}} His sisters Rose and Rachel were founding members of the band The Heart Throbs. His brother Frank is the bass player of the Woodentops.{{Cite web |last=Clarkson |first=John |title=Woodentops - Interviews |url=http://www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk/Home/Details?id=15126 |access-date=14 March 2023 |website=Pennyblackmusic.co.uk}}