Ray Appleton, American jazz drummer, died at 74

  Dead Famous

Otis “Killer” Ray Appleton, born on August 23, 1941, and passed away October 2015.

Ray was an American jazz drummer, born in Indianapolis, Indiana.

His interest in drums began when visiting the local fire department to hear their “Drum and Bugle Corps” practice.

Ray played in school bands, but hearing Freddie Hubbard and James Spaulding got him more seriously into jazz.

He reportedly received his nickname “killer” from bassist Larry Ridley and became a person of note in Indianapolis’s jazz community.

Due to a car accident and Diabetes mellitus, he lost part of his left leg in 1997.

Ray Appleton died at the age of 74 in October 2015.