The energetic, versatile drumming provided the beat to Blondie as they drove out post-punk, disco and rock hits in the late 1970s and early 80s, and after the band formed again in 1997, they drove out bands, disco and rock hits. He was 70 years old.
In a statement, the band said the cause was cancer. He didn't say where he died.
Blondie best remembers with charismatic lead singer Debbie Harry, but Mr. Burke's relentless percussion was just as important to succeeding as one of the most popular American rock groups of the era.
He can be heard falling in a quick disco beat in the intro of “Call Me” (1980).
Like other post-punk bands that slid into the movement of the New Wave, the car, Devo-Blondie, was known for its image as well as its substance. Covers and press photos of bands' albums often featured Harry. Her angular face and faint blonde hair are surrounded by four male bandmates, usually in a black suit and skinny ties.
Mr. Burke stood out with his boyish cheeks and vertical mop of hair. But he and the band were more than their sharp appearance. In one survey, Rolling Stone ranked him as the 61st greatest drummer of all time.
“American Roots of Rock and Roll – Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran – that was the foundation of what I loved since I was a young child,” Burke told Mixdown magazine last year. “From there it turned into a spiral.”
He played on all of Blondie's studio albums. Six were recorded between 1976 and 1982, with the rest after the band reopened in 1997.
Mr Burke, the son of a professional drummer, answered a hopeful ad in the village voices, arranged in 1974 in 1974 by two musicians, Harry and guitarist Chris Stein, by two musicians looking for a new band Blondie drummer.
Mr. Burke appeared in an interview wearing a shirt component from a sailor suit. The three bonded with common admiration for behaviors like David Bowie, Iggy Pop and The Velvet Underground. They quickly added Gary Valentine on the bass and Jimmy Desteri on the keyboard.
Within a year, the band was performing regularly at venues in the prestigious East Village such as Max's Kansas City and CBGB.
Blondie embraced all three genres and invaded the mainstream with radio and dance floor-friendly tracks like Heart of Glass (1979) and Rapture (1980), both of which reached number one on the Billboard charts.
Burke's infectious beat allowed the song to embody the genre. There are also areas beyond that. “Heart of Glass” is both pop and disco, and “Rapture” borrowed heavily from a new style of hip hop.
“Our records have always been everywhere,” he told the Sarasota Herald Tribune in 2004.
Clement Anthony Bozewski performed at Clement J. Bozewski in Bayonne, New Jersey on November 24, 1954 at a club in northern New Jersey, where his mother Antoinette (Terachiano) Bozewski managed the house.
Clem learned drums from his father and played in the school band where he grew up. By his late teens he had crossed the Hudson River to New York, where he played in various rock bands before meeting Mr. Harry and Mr. Stein.
He styled himself as something like a throwback to a rockstar drummer in the 1960s. Like Ringo Starr, John Bonham and Mr Moon, he was known for his on-stage charisma, as well as the virtuosity behind the kit.
Mr. Moon was his North Star. Burke was on stage when he learned in 1978 that Moon had passed away at the age of 32. When the set was finished, he kicked the drums into the crowd, cried out, “It's for Keith Moon – the greatest drummer in the world!”
After running six albums in marathons in over six years, Blondie took a hiatus in 1982.
Over the next 15 years, Burke became a drummer for the A-list session and worked with artists such as Bowie, Eurythmics, Bob Dylan, and Pete Townshend.
He performed on classic songs such as “I Love Rock 'n' Roll” by Joanne Jett and Blackhearts, and in 1987 he performed two shows with the Ramones. Like the rest of the band, he chose the stage name: Elvis Ramone.
Mr. Burke also formed or joined a long series of bands, including Checkerpast, International Swingers and Primsoll.
Information about the survivors was not immediately available.
After Blondie reunites, the band released their seventh album, “No Exit,” in 1999. This time, the band left with Harry and Stein, Valentine and Desty a few years later, but Burke maintained their latest album, Pollinator (Pollinator) (2017).
“Everyone around me seemed to think it was unmanageable to be a 'rock star', but I didn't feel that way,” he told Modern Drummer magazine in 1985.
