Pete de Freitas

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

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. He joined the Bunnymen in 1979, replacing a drum machine.

In 1985, de Freitas temporarily absconded from 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. He was married in the same year and his daughter Lucie Marie was born in 1988.

He 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 and was in collision with a motor vehicle at approximately 16:00. His ashes are buried in Goring-on-Thames.

His sisters Rose and Rachel were founding members of the band The Heart Throbs. His brother Frank is the bass player of The Woodentops.