Viv Prince

English jazz and rock drummer (9 August 1941, Loughborough, Leicestershire, England – 11 September 2025, Algarve, Portugal). His flamboyant style and unpredictable personality made him one of the most talked-about figures in the British rock scene of the 1960s. Before making his mark, Prince played in several semi-professional bands. Joining The Pretty Things in 1964, Prince’s wild, energetic drumming style, often compared to Keith Moon, was a defining element of the band’s early garage rock and R&B sound. His unpredictable stage presence and offstage antics, including heavy drinking and chaotic behavior, led to his dismissal from The Pretty Things in late 1965 after a tumultuous New Zealand tour, where he was arrested for stealing a car. Following an altercation with the crew, he was thrown off the plane that was taking the band home after the tour. Prince’s time with the band, though short, left a rebellious energy, influencing the proto-punk movement. He was reported to be expelled from the members of Hell's Angels for bad behaviour.
After leaving The Pretty Things, Prince played with the Bunch of Fives and the Denny Laine String Band. He also deputised on drums during concerts for the Honeycombs, the Who, and Hawkwind, was considered to become a drummer for the Jeff Beck Group (pre-Yardbirds) and formed his own short-lived group, The Viv Prince Syndrome. For some time, he ran the Knuckles club in Soho, London that as he claimed, served as the first rehearsal base for Jimi Hendrix in England. He recorded with other acts, including The Nashville Teens and Gene Vincent, and worked as a session musician, but struggled with alcoholism, which impacted his career. In the 1970s, he moved to Canada and Portugal, largely retiring from music. Prince made a rare appearance in the 1999 documentary Pretty Things: Still Unrepentant and was featured in the 2002 book The Pretty Things: Growing Old Disgracefully. Prince lived largely out of the public eye in later years, remembered as one of rock’s true eccentrics.