Prism drummer Rocket Norton dead at 73

Renowned Prism drummer Gary Wanstall, known as Rocket Norton, passed away last week after a two-year-long battle with cancer.

Bill Allman, president with B.C. Entertainment Hall of Fame, confirmed Wanstall died in Vancouver on April 5. He was 73. 

"He was a truly remarkable human being, and you would follow him anywhere," Allman told CBC News. 

"His musical contributions are way up there, but he was also an incredibly energetic philanthropist."

Wanstall had a long and illustrious musical career, Allman said.

According to a B.C. Entertainment Hall of Fame release, the Chilliwack-born musician took up drums as a teenager and adopted the stage name Rocket Norton as a founding member of the psychedelic band Seed of Time in 1965. 

But he is perhaps best known as the drummer for the popular rock band Prism, Allman said.

"I [was the] right age [at the time]...I was blasting Prism away in my car," he said. 

The band has sold more than two million records and produced hits like Young and Restless and Armageddon. 

Rocket Norton was inducted into the B.C. Entertainment Hall of Fame in the class of 2023 along with Nickleback and Loverboy, and later that same year Prism was honoured with a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto.

In more recent years, the Hall of Famer made headlines for raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for cancer research and care.

Shortly after being diagnosed with cancer in 2022, Wanstall put on two classic rock concerts in Coquitlam and in Vancouver, raising more than $600,000 for the B.C. Cancer Foundation.

The foundation has put up a memorial page and a fundraiser in honour of the late drummer. 

"He always had big ideas. He always had the energy to carry them out," Allman said, adding that he carried that resolve through his illness.

"And in the face of something that would have made most people cry and crawl under their bed, he said, 'No, I'm gonna do some good in this war.' And he really did."