Background
De Freitas was born in Portuguese of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, and educated by the Benedictines at Downside School in Somerset, south-west England.
De Freitas was born in Portuguese of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, and educated by the Benedictines at Downside School in Somerset, south-west England.
He was the drummer in Echo & the Bunnymen, and performed on their first five albums. 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 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.