Credit: Zoran Veselinovic
Fri 10 January 2025 23:00, UK
Ginger Baker lived a rather extraordinary life, and it’s remarkable that he lived long enough to be able to tell the numerous tales of his existence with first-hand accounts. His musical career alone is something to tell the grandkids about, having spent time as the drummer in the rock supergroup Cream, forming Blind Faith and Ginger Baker’s Air Force afterwards, as well as stints in various other projects, but that only covers a fraction of the stories that Baker created for himself.
His lengthy struggles with heroin addiction led him to move around the world in an effort to overcome the habit, and during the 1970s, he would relocate to Lagos, Nigeria, to work alongside Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti and explore his developing love for pan-African music. After opening his Batakota studio in the country’s capital in 1973, Baker had made a home for himself in the nation, but this would all fall apart in the early ‘80s when financial troubles forced him to cease operations.
Struggling once again with his urges and needing an escape from the world of music altogether, Baker sought after life in another location that would distract him from the lifestyle of drugs and debauchery that being a drummer brought into his life. Thinking that a more remote location would be for the better, Baker upped sticks and moved back to Europe, specifically the Italian region of Tuscany, where he hoped that the luscious green pastures would offer him some respite and chance to rehabilitate.
While there, he moved into and renovated an abandoned house on an olive farm, which he tended to as a means of income. Speaking to Forbes about his experience of running the grove, he attested that “farming olives is probably one of the hardest labour things you can do. You’ve got to prune the trees – it’s an art form, really. Only the Italians know, which is why they make the best olive oil, especially in Toscana.” He wasn’t simply living a life of luxury in the idyllic region; he was working arduous days to make a living.
Despite being far removed from his previous life there and calling it “the best thing that happened to me,” the music world soon came calling for Baker’s return. In 1986, bassist and producer Bill Laswell encouraged him to dust off the drums to perform on his record Horses and Trees, which led to a stint working with Public Image Ltd on their 1987 release, Album. However, while he was making a slow return to music, the olive farm was slowly on the decline.
Laswell remembers his first trip out to visit Baker before recruiting his talents and paints a very different picture of life on the farm. “He lived on top of this mountain and drove us up there drunk as hell in this old jeep,” he told Rolling Stone. “The farm was a disaster. There was no electricity, and he had this tiny bed he would sleep in with his dogs. It’s a miracle that he was still alive.”
If anything, Baker being drawn back into drumming was a blessing, as shortly after his return, things would go even more sour for the olive grove. After the locals began to accuse Baker of selling drugs, he found himself getting into scrapes with the local mafia over his business ventures. The final straw for Baker was the murder of his pet dog, and following this string of incidents, he chose to pack in life in Italy for a future in Hollywood. This, quite frankly, could only happen to someone like Ginger Baker.
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