Drummer for iconic rock band announces he’s leaving the group

After more than 50 years with the group, drummer Paul Burgess has announced he is leaving 10cc.

Burgess made the announcement after the group completed it’s recent tour of the U.S.

“Having enjoyed many years with 10cc, I’m sorry to say that for me the rigours of touring have become incommensurate with age, and it’s time to put excessive hours spent waiting in airports and sitting on tour buses behind me,” Burgess said in a statement to LouderSound.

“I have no intention of retiring and will continue to play, but at a more agreeable pace, working with past associates and a new band of like-minded musicians, The Guilty Men,” he said.

Burgess has been a member of the group since 1973, when he replaced founding members Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. He appears on several of the band’s albums, including “Deceptive Bends” (1977), “Bloody Tourists” (1978), and “Look Hear?” (1980).

“When Paul and I started working together in 10cc, we never imagined in our wildest dreams that we would still be doing it even 30 years later, let alone 52,” 10cc leader and co-founder Graham Gouldman said to LouderSound. “Paul is my longest-running musical associate and it will be strange to turn around and see someone else on drums, but I can fully understand his desire to withdraw from sitting on a plane for 14 hours and then changing hotel each day for several weeks.”

In addition to 10cc, Burgess has performed with such acts as Camel, Jethro Tull, Joan Armatrading and Gloria Gaynor.

The band’s performance in Alexandria, Virginia, was his last concert with the group.

Ben Stone, who has worked with Mike + The Mechanics and Bonnie Tyler, will replace Burgess on percussion and drums.

Formed in 1972, 10cc is known for such songs as “I’m Not in Love,” “The Things We Do for Love,” and “Rubber Bullets.”