TOP 15 GREATEST DRUMMERS OF ALL TIME (Ultimate List)
Compiled list of the most talented and popular drummers for people who have a background knowledge of music history.
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Buddy Rich was born on 30 September 1917 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Whiplash (2014), Motherless Brooklyn (2019) and Ship Ahoy (1942). He was married to Marie Allison. He died on 2 April 1987 in Santa Monica, California, USA.- Actor
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Gene married Ethel McGuire in 1934. She was the switchboard operator at the Dixie Hotel where Gene was living while he was working in the pit band of "Girl Crazy." They were divorced in 1942 and remarried in 1946. Ethel died in 1955. Gene then married Patty Bowler in 1959 and they adopted two children, Mary Grace and Michael, who Gene nicknamed "BG." They were divorced in 1968.- A drummer and composer most widely recognized for his performances and album recordings with artists Neil Diamond, Billie Holiday, Johnny Rivers, and many other rock and jazz artists.
Eddie was born as Edward Donald Rubin in Ohio, and raised in Venice, Los Angeles, California. His passion and love of drumming began at the early age of 5, and would play rhythms in his parent's kitchen on pots and pans. Rubin would later join band class in junior high school and later would continue with band classes at Venice High School. He also played in rock bands he formed with friends beginning in junior high school, and began playing outside gigs while in high school. Eventually Rubin met and became a student of Freddie Gruber, a highly respected drum teacher and jazz drummer who performed with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, and was close friends with legendary drummer Buddy Rich.
After graduating Venice High School, Rubin entered college to study music. He took performing arts and musicianship courses at a local community college for a couple years and then quit, deciding he just wanted to go out and get whatever work he could find as a drummer. Before he found success in the music industry Rubin worked various jobs such as installing curtains in people's homes. Rubin's career as a drummer started with offers to play small gigs with bands at various local clubs. Gradually over the course of a few years he developed his reputation among local musicians and eventually within the music industry.
Eddie Rubin's first big role was performing as a duo with Johnny Rivers on the Hollywood's Sunset Strip. Around 1962 Johnny Rivers had just moved to Los Angeles from Louisiana hoping to find success as a singer and songwriter. In 1963 Rivers was asked by Bill Gazzari, owner of the Sunset Strip club Gazzari's, to fill in for his house band who had left. Rivers had no band members nor was he prepared to play the type of music Gazzari wanted. Johnny Rivers previously got to know Eddie Rubin when he would visit other local Hollywood clubs to see him perform. So Rivers told Rubin Gazzari needs a band and the two decided to perform at Gazzari's as a duo. Without time to rehearse, they just started playing some songs off the top of their head and crowds started coming in to hear them. Eventually Eddie Rubin and Rivers got an offer to be the first performers on opening night at the Whisky a Go Go in West Hollywood, California drawing even larger crowds than they had at Gazzari's. It was here at the Whisky that Johnny Rivers recorded the album Johnny Rivers At the Whisky a Go Go. After the covers of "Memphis" and "Maybelline" on the album became hits, Rubin and Rivers appeared on the music variety TV show Shindig! (1964) to perform the two songs.
Rubin's drumming career was eventually propelled upwards when he got an offer to become a part of singer and songwriter Neil Diamond's band in 1969. In 1970 Rubin recorded live with Diamond for the album "Gold: Live at the Troubadour," which was initially certified Gold by the RIAA and later went 2x platinum. After touring with Diamond around the world, Rubin took time off from drumming to pursue his side interest of photography.
Eddie Rubin passed away in his home in Venice Beach, California on April 24, 2019, at age 79 from cardiac arrest. He had three children and had a lifelong love of animals and was a strong environmentalist.Member of Neil Diamond's band and played for Johnny Rivers. - Actor
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Ginger Baker was born on 19 August 1939 in Lewisham, London, England, UK. He was an actor and composer, known for The Harder They Fall (2021), Casino (1995) and Gonks Go Beat (1964). He was married to Kudzai Machokoto, Karen Loucks Rinedollar, Sarah Dixon and Elizabeth Ann Finch. He died on 6 October 2019 in Canterbury, Kent, UK.- D.J. Fontana was born on 15 March 1931 in Shreveport, Louisiana, USA. He was an actor, known for From Nashville with Music (1969), Elvis Presley: Rock Milestones (2007) and Tupelove (2012). He was married to Karen Arrington and Barbara Tullier. He died on 13 June 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
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Neil Peart was one of the most universally respected rock drummers, and was best known for his nearly superhuman, pyrotechnic drum playing, and for providing intellectual lyrics for his band's songs. Neil served as both drummer and lyricist for the rock band Rush since 1974, joining bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson. (Rush's lineup remained unchanged since Neil's arrival in 1974.) Rush is the most successful Canadian music group in history, and is the third most prolific seller of consecutive (American) Gold and Platinum Records and videos, behind only The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
Beginning on August 10, 1997, immediately following Rush's "Test For Echo" tour, Neil endured concurrent, seemingly unendurable tragedies when his daughter (and only child) died in a car accident, and then his wife died from cancer 10 months later. This put Rush on indefinite hiatus for the first time, and prompted Neil to write "Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road", his second book. In September 2000, Neil married Los Angeles photographer Carrie Nuttall. They had a daughter, Oliva, in 2009.
Neil rejoined Rush in the studio for 2002's "Vapor Trails," their 17th studio album, which was met with high praise and considered a stellar "comeback" both for Peart and the band. A highly successful 2002 tour brought about the band's long-awaited return to the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The tour ended with Rush's first-ever shows in Brazil, where they played to 125,000 fans in three nights. The final performance of the 2002 tour was captured on DVD as Rush in Rio (2003), which was certified double-platinum within weeks of its release.
After the Vapor Trails album and tour, Neil's writing became more personal. His subsequent live performances, including his trademark percussion solos which showcased his superlative adroitness as a drummer, were regarded as his best to date. His final tour with Rush was 2015's R40 tour, which marked forty years since Neil joined the band. At the end of the tour, Neil announced he was retiring due to arthritis and tendinitis.
Not long after his retirement, Neil was diagnosed with brain cancer. He fought it privately for three and a half years, keeping it secret until he passed from it on January 7, 2020.- Actor
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Keith John Moon was born to working class parents in Wembley, London, England, on the 23rd August, 1946. At the age of 12, he had joined the Sea Cadet Corp and was given his first musical instrument, the bugle. He left school by 15 and was in his first band, The Beachcombers; this was around the summer of 1963. There was rumour that Keith was self-taught, but history says otherwise, he was shown how to play by the late Carlo Little (1938-2005), Carlo was the original drummer in The Rolling Stones and Screaming Lord Sutch's band, The Savages.
By the age of 18, he had joined a local London band, The High Numbers; this was to consist of what is now known as The Who.
With his own unique style of drumming, rolling the sticks along the skins as to banging the typical beat, he was to become extrovertly charismatic in his life as well as his playing. With a desire, a need if you like, to be the centre of attention, this hyperactive, and largely, self destructive, personality became his own worst enemy.
With a flair for theatrical and ridiculous behaviour, he was the centre point and self-publicist for, if they liked it or not, The Who.
In the meantime, he had fathered a daughter, Mandy, to Kim. He may have been the perfect showman, but behind the scenes, he was often a very aggressive man to live around and with. Kim soon left him, taking their young daughter with her.
He started to live the high life in California, with the likes of John Lennon, Harry Nilsson and Ringo Starr, Ringo's son, Zak, was his godson, ironically, it was Zak who played with The Who in their later career, during the nineties and beyond.
While in California, he made his only solo album, Two Sides of The Moon, for MCA Records, a 1975 release, with many guest artists. Keith rarely played the drums while away from The Who, he sang on the album, and played the drums on only three of the tracks.
His on-stage aggression, destroying his drum kits while still playing them and wrecking hotel rooms, apart from being an obvious publicity stunt, was fuelled with an over use of drugs and alcohol. This addictive side to his nature flowed into the 70s, playing against the band, his family and friends. His drumming became irregular and unpredictable. He put on weight, so much so as to have him sit in a chair with the backrest toward the camera, to hide his paunch, on the cover of the last The Who album with Keith, the 1978 Who are You.
He died in September 7th, 1978; his death was an accident, by the overuse of the prescribed medicine that was designed to ease him off his drink addiction. He died in the same London apartment as Cass Elliot, from The Mamas and the Papas, who had died there some four years earlier.- Music Department
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John Bonham is still regularly voted in polls as the greatest and most influential rock drummer of all time, an opinion which has also been expressed by the likes of Roger Taylor of Queen, Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
He started playing drums at the age of five using a makeshift kit and later progressed to real drums. His influences included great American jazz drummers such as Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich. He played in a series of bands and formed an association with Robert Plant through Band of Joy, who combined blues, psychedelics and extended musical workouts. According to Plant: "Bonzo was totally and absolutely devoted to getting it right. Everything that he listened to he could go beyond, not only could he recreate it but he could take it somewhere new. He knew that he was a powerhouse among drummers... we seemed to have a great affinity for each other."
Although Bonham and Plant went their separate ways after Band of Joy, they reunited in The Yardbirds, which already featured Jimmy Page. John Paul Jones joined and this led to the formation of Led Zeppelin, who released their first album in 1969. They went on to become the biggest rock band of the 1970s, achieving extraordinary success in the United States in particular.
Bonham died aged 32 in 1980. He had a reputation as a heavy drinker and had consumed too much vodka in the 24 hours before his death, which caused vomiting and asphyxiation. The coroner returned a verdict of accidental death. Led Zeppelin announced they were finished as a band. According to Page, the band could not have continued without him, he was so integral to their sound. They didn't play again as Led Zeppelin until Live Aid (1985), which included Plant's solo drummer Phil Collins and The Power Station's Tony Thompson replacing him in a performance which has been disowned by the band. Bonham's son, Jason Bonham, has become a successful drummer himself and a member of Led Zeppelin for subsequent reunion performances.- Actor
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Burleigh Drummond is known for 40 Point Plan (2012), Inside Moves (1980) and Ambrosia: Life Beyond L.A. (1978).- Music Department
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Max Weinberg is the drummer of E Street Band, Bruce Springsteen's major band. His snare drum from the "Born In The USA" tour, "The Big Beat", is on display at the Hard Rock Cafe in NYC. Max started up his own record label and production company in 1990 called Hard Ticket Entertainment. He produced the albums by Killer Joe on this label. He recently released an album called "Let There Be Drums", a 3-CD collection of Max's favorite drum tracks from the 50s to the 70s. Max is the band leader for The Max Weinberg 7, on Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993). He took a 5-month break from late night to tour with Bruce Springsteen & E Street Band. Max now resides in Middletown, New Jersey with his two kids and wife Becky.- Music Department
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Jim Keltner was born on 27 April 1942 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. He is an actor, known for Man of Steel (2013), Across the Universe (2007) and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016).- Music Department
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Jim Gordon backed many significant rock recordings of the 1960s and '70s, including Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'," Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" and, most famously, "Layla," as a member of Eric Clapton's band Derek and the Dominos. Gordon played with an understated yet distinctive groove on dozens of songs that became radio hits, and was known to his peers as the "only living metronome."
He got his professional break in 1963 at age 17, when he joined the Everly Brothers on tour in England. Gordon played professionally for the next 20 years, backing some of the biggest names in rock music on the road and in the studio, including Joe Cocker, Frank Zappa, Harry Nilsson, and George Harrison. In 1970, Gordon's work on Harrison's All Things Must Pass led to the formation of Derek and the Dominos with Clapton, bassist Carl Radle, and keyboardist Bobby Whitlock.
That group was short-lived but produced a giant hit with "Layla," which Gordon co-wrote. It was his greatest musical achievement yet had nothing to do with the drums; he played the song's signature melancholy piano refrain.
"Layla" charted twice in two different years, peaking at no. 16 on the Billboard 200 in December 1970 and reaching no. 10 on the Hot 100 in August 1972 -- long after the band had broken up. (In 1993, while in prison, Gordon won a Grammy for Best Rock Song for "Layla," following the success of Clapton's Unplugged, named Album of the Year.) The song has been streamed more than 30 million times.
Gordon's popularity and work ethic earned him sessions that became monumental albums, among them John Lennon's Imagine, Gordon Lightfoot's Sundown, and Steely Dan's Pretzel Logic.
But at the height of his career, Gordon was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Combined with substance abuse, his mental illness threatened his professional reputation. Beginning in 1978, Gordon sought medical treatment at least 15 times, court records show. But he could not escape his mother's voice, which he claimed had tormented him for years. The hallucinations grew relentless, demanding that Gordon eat less, even stop touring.
To confront the voices, Gordon drove to his mother's house, where he struck her head with a hammer and also stabbed her. In 1984 he was sentenced to 16 years to life, and "remains an unreasonable risk of threat to public safety," according to the parole board's decision in March at California Medical Facility in Vacaville, where Gordon is jailed.- Richard Hayward was born on 6 February 1946 in Clear Lake, Iowa, USA. He was an actor, known for The Buddy Holly Story (1978), Le mythomane (1981) and Les monte-en-l'air (1976). He died on 12 August 2010 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
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Levon Helm was in the right place at the right time. He saw the birth of rock and roll and, though he was too much of a gentleman to say it, his role in helping to keep that rebellious child healthy was more than just instrumental.
On May 26, 1940, Mark Lavon Helm was the second of four children born to Nell and Diamond Helm in Elaine, Arkansas. Diamond was a cotton farmer who entertained occasionally as a musician. The Helms loved music and often sang together. They listened to The Grand Ole Opry and Sonny Boy Williamson and his King Biscuit Entertainers regularly on the radio. A favorite family pastime was attending traveling music shows in the area. According to his 1993 autobiography, "This Wheel's On Fire", Levon recalled seeing his first live show, Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys, at six years old. His description: "This really tattooed my brain. I've never forgotten it." Hearing performers like Monroe and Williamson on the radio was one thing; seeing them live made a huge impression.
Levon's father bought him his first guitar at age nine. At ten and 11, whenever he wasn't in school or at work on the farm, the boy could be found at KFFA's broadcasting studio in Helena, Arkansas, watching Sonny Boy Williamson do his radio show, "King Biscuit Time". Helm made his younger sister Linda a string bass out of a washtub when he was 12 years old. She would play the bass while her brother slapped his thighs and played harmonica and guitar. They would sing songs learned at home and popular hits of the day, and billed themselves as "Lavon and Linda." Because of their fresh-faced good looks, obvious musical talent and Levon's natural ability to win an audience with sheer personality and infectious rhythms, the pair consistently won talent contests along the Arkansas 4-H Club circuit.
In 1954 Levon was 14 years old when he saw Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins do a show at Helena. Also performing was a young Elvis Presley, with Scotty Moore on guitar, and Bill Black on stand-up bass. They did not have a drummer. The music was early jazz-fueled rockabilly, and the audience went wild. In 1955 he saw Elvis once more, before Presley's star exploded. This time Presley had D.J. Fontana with him on drums and Black was playing electric bass. Helm couldn't get over the difference and thought it was the best band he'd seen. The added instruments gave the music solidity and depth. People jumped out of their seats dancing to the thunderous, heart-pumping rhythms. The melting pot that was the Mississippi Delta had boiled over and evolved. Its magnificently rich blues was uniting with all the powerful, new, spicy-hot sounds and textures that became rock and roll.
Natural progression led Levon to form his own rock band as a high-school junior, called The Jungle Bush Beaters. While Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis were making teens everywhere crazed, Levon would practice, play, watch and learn. After seeing Jerry Lee's drummer Jimmy Van Eaton, he seriously began thinking of playing the drums himself. Around this same time the 17-year-old musician was invited by Conway Twitty to share the stage with Twitty and his Rock Housers. He had met Twitty when "Lavon and Linda" opened for him at a previous show. Helm was a personable, polite teen who took his music seriously, so Twitty allowed him to sit in whenever the opportunity arose.
Ronnie Hawkins came into Levon Helm's life in 1957. A charismatic entertainer and front-man, Hawkins was gathering musicians to tour Canada, where the shows and money were steady. He had a sharp eye for talent. He needed a drummer and Levon fit the bill. Fulfilling a promise to Nell and Diamond to finish high school, Levon joined Ronnie and his "Hawks" on the road. The young Arkansas farm boy, once a tractor driving champion, found himself driving Hawkins' Cadillac to gigs, happily aware that all the unknown adventures of rock and roll would soon be his destiny.
In 1959 Ronnie got The Hawks signed to Roulette Records. They had two hits, "Forty Days" and "Mary Lou", sold 750,000 copies and appeared on Dick Clark's American Bandstand (1952). Hawkins and Helm recruited four more talented Canadian musicians in the early 1960s--Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson and Robbie Robertson. Under Ronnie's tutelage they would often perform until midnight and rehearse until four in the morning. Other bands began emulating their style; now they were the ones to watch and learn from.
Eventually the students surpassed their teacher. Weary of Ronnie's strict regulations and eager to expand their own musical interests, the five decided to break from Hawkins. They called themselves "Levon and the Hawks."
About 1965 Bob Dylan decided to change his sound. He was ready to "go electric" and wanted Levon and The Hawks to help him fire it up. The boys signed on to tour with Dylan, but unfortunately Dylan's die-hard folk fans resisted. Night after night of constant booing left Levon without the pleasure of seeing his audience enjoy themselves. He called his drummer's stool "the best seat in the house," because he could see his fellow musicians and his audience simultaneously. What pleased him most, always, was that his audience had a good time. He temporarily left the group and eventually landed back home in Arkansas. Dylan and the rest of the band took up residence in Woodstock, NY. They rented a large, pink house where they wrote and rehearsed new material. Danko called for Helm to join them when Capitol Records gave them a recording contract.
Woodstock residents called them "the band," so they kept the moniker. The name The Band fit. The sound was no-frills rock-and-roll, but far from simplistic. They fused every musical influence they were exposed to over the years as individuals and as a unit. The result was brilliant. Their development as musicians was perfected by years of playing. Living together at "Big Pink" allowed complete collaboration of their artistic expression. Americana and folklore themes, heart-wrenching ballads filled with naked emotion, majestic harmonies, hard-driving rhythms and exquisite instrumentation made critics, peers and fans realize that this music was unlike any heard before. Their first album, "Music from Big Pink", released in July of 1968, made them household names, and as a result they were invited to appear on Ed Sullivan's The Ed Sullivan Show (1948) in autumn of '69. Following "Big Pink"'s success the next album, called simply "The Band", is considered by some as their masterpiece. They made seven albums total, including one live recording in 1972, "Rock of Ages". Many of their hits--such as "The Weight", "W.S. Walcott's Medicine Show" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down"--were spawned from stories of Levon's beloved South.
Helm was working in Los Angeles in 1974, at a Sunset Blvd. hotel, when he spotted a beautiful young brunette taking a dip in the pool. Her name was Sandra Dodd and when she looked up at him smiling, she didn't recognize him at first. The charming musician offered to take the lovely lady for sushi and never looked back. They were married on September 7, 1981, in Woodstock.
The barn and studio Helm built in Woodstock, which became his permanent home, was just about complete in 1975. He invited Muddy Waters to his new studio and they recorded "Muddy Waters in Woodstock". To the delight of everyone involved, it won a Grammy.
The Band held a farewell concert at Winterland in San Francisco on Thanksgiving 1976. It was a bittersweet time for many, who felt the group's demise was too soon. They called it "The Last Waltz", which included Ronnie Hawkins,Dr. John, Muddy Waters, Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and an all-star guest list of peers and friends that read like the "Who's Who" of rock and roll. The event eventually sold as a triple album and was also filmed--The Last Waltz (1978) became the first historical "rockumentary."
Group members went on to individual pursuits. Levon cut his debut album, "The RCO All-Stars", in 1977. His next effort was the self-titled "Levon Helm", followed by "American Son", released in 1980. That same year was pivotal, as Helm turned his attention to acting. He played Loretta Lynn's father in Coal Miner's Daughter (1980), winning great reviews for his first film appearance. He did another self-titled album and Hollywood again came knocking in 1983, giving him a role in The Right Stuff (1983). The authenticity he brought to his characters earned him numerous movie roles from 1980 until 2009. Levon gave a sensitive, convincing portrayal of a destitute blind man in the 2005 Tommy Lee Jones vehicle, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005). In 2007 he filmed Shooter (2007) with Mark Wahlberg. His last role was in 2009. where he portrayed Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood in In the Electric Mist (2009), again with his friend Tommy Lee Jones.
Rick Danko and Levon reunited to play music after Danko had been living in California. Rick moved back to Woodstock and the friends did an acoustic tour in early 1983. In San Jose the following year, they received excellent reviews when Hudson and Manuel joined them for their first U.S. appearance as The Band since 1976. They continued playing together until the tragic death of their dear friend and comrade, the 42-year-old Manuel.
During the 1990s three more Band albums were recorded: "Jericho", "High on the Hog" and "Jubilation". In 1998 Levon was diagnosed with throat cancer and the famous voice with the rich Southern nuances was silenced to a whisper. He still played the drums, mandolin and harmonica, often performing with his daughter, Amy Helm, also a vocalist and instrumentalist. A great emotional support to her father during this time, Amy appeared with him regularly at Levon Helm Studios. In 1999 Helm endured another tragic loss when Rick Danko passed away 19 days before his 56th birthday. His death marked the end of an era.
Miraculously, Levon's voice slowly returned. He felt comfortable enough to sing again live. With imagination and vision, he conceived The Midnight Ramble Sessions, a series of live performances at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock. Named for the traveling minstrel shows of his youth, the first Midnight Ramble was held in January, 2004. It featured one of the last performances by great blues pianist Johnnie Johnson. Friends old and new joined Levon on his stage, including Emmylou Harris, Dr. John, John Sebastian, Allen Toussaint, Elvis Costello, Phil Lesh, Jimmy Vivino, Hubert Sumlin, Little Sammy Davis, Billy Bob Thornton and The Boxmasters, The Muddy Waters Band, The Swell Season, Donald Fagen, Steve Jordon, Hot Tuna, Kris Kristofferson, The Black Crowes, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Norah Jones, The Bacon Brothers, Robbie Dupree, My Morning Jacket, Shemekia Copeland, The Wood Brothers, Steve Earle, Jackie Greene, Sam Bush, Brewer & Shipley, Carolyn Wonderland, Ollabelle and The Alexis P. Suter Band. The monthly Rambles at "The Barn" were wildly successful, drawing a worldwide audience.
Releases produced by Levon Helm Studios from Helm's personal "vault," were Volume I and II of "The Midnight Ramble Sessions", plus a live RCO All-Stars performance from New Year's Eve 1977, at the Palladium. The vitality and magnetism of these recordings speak for themselves. In September of 2007, Dirt Farmer Music and Vanguard Records released "Dirt Farmer", Levon's first solo, studio album in 25 years. A project particularly close to his heart, the CD contains music reminiscent of his past, and songs handed down from his parents. "Dirt Farmer" was awarded a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album in February 2008 and landed Levon a spot in Rolling Stone's The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. That same year he was also recognized by the Recording Academy with a lifetime achievement award as an original member of The Band and was given the "Artist of the Year" Award by the Americana Music Association. In 2009 Levon released "Electric Dirt", which marked his highest debut in Soundscan era at #36 and spent six consecutive weeks at #1 on the Americana Radio Chart. He won a second Grammy for "Electric Dirt" in the inaugural category of Best Americana Album in 2010. In September 2008 Levon took "The Midnight Ramble" on the road to Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium. Buddy Miller, John Hiatt, Sheryl Crow, George Receli, Sam Bush and Billy Bob Thornton helped The Levon Helm Band create an evening of unforgettable musical joy. "Ramble at the Ryman - Live CD and DVD" (sold individually) won him his third consecutive Grammy, again as Best Album in the Americana category, in February 2012. Sadly, Levon's cancer returned shortly after this last triumph. He passed away on April 19, 2012. His funeral was a tearful, joyful, musical celebration of his life.
The intimacy of the shows performed at Levon's hearth offered a hospitality and warmth found in no other venue, not to mention the excellence of the performances themselves, hosted by a man whose gifts were truly legendary. Though always an enthusiastic and passionate performer, with sheer joy and gratitude, he effortlessly captivated his audience, young and old, with a rhythmic power all his own. During a career that spanned over five decades, Levon Helm nurtured a tradition of professionalism with a deep respect for his craft and remained refreshingly genuine in a world that often compromised integrity. He was a master storyteller who wove his tales with the magic thread of universality that ties us all. He beckoned us to come in, sit awhile and enjoy. We see ourselves in his stories and we are home.
--Dawn LoBue Copyright © 2006 ~ 2012 All Rights Reserved.- Music Department
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Hal Blaine was an American drummer and session musician of Jewish descent, with a career that lasted about 70 years. He was born in 1929 as "Harold Simon Belsky", son to Meyer Belsky and Rose Silverman. Both of his parents were immigrants from Eastern Europe.
Blaine was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, a planned city that was once famed for its paper mills. He became interested in music as a child, and started playing drums as a hobby when 8-years-old. In 1943, the 14-year-old Blaine and his family moved to California. From 1949 to 1952, received lessons in drumming by Roy Knapp, the same music teacher who had trained the famed jazz drummer Gene Krupa (1909-1973). Meanwhile, Blaine started performing professionally in Chicago strip clubs. He worked on improving his sight-reading skills, reading and performing of pieces of music or songs in music notation that the performer has not seen before.
He started out as a jazz musician. He served for a while in the big band of Count Basie (1904-1984), and went on music tours with Patti Page (1927-2013) and Tommy Sands (1937-). But he also enjoyed the emerging "rock and roll" of the 1950s, and performed as a session musician in rock recordings.
In the 1960s, Blaine served as a core member of "the Wrecking Crew", a loose collective of session musicians working in Los Angeles. Most of them had formal training in both jazz and classical music, and provided their music skills to record companies producing various rock, pop, and rhythm and blues recording of this era. While relatively unknown to the music audience, the Wrecking Crew were viewed with reverence by industry insiders.
From 1962 to 1976, Blaine played drums for 40 recordings that hit number 1 in the Billboard Hot 100, in what was probably the most memorable period of his career. These recordings included "Johnny Angel" (1962, by Shelley Fabares), "He's a Rebel" (1962, by The Crystals), "Surf City" (1963, by Jan & Dean), "I Get Around" (1964, by The Beach Boys ), "Everybody Loves Somebody" (1964, by Dean Martin), "Ringo" (1964, by Lorne Greene), "This Diamond Ring" (1965, by Gary Lewis & the Playboys), "Help Me, Rhonda" (1965, by The Beach Boys), "Mr Tambourine Man" (1965, by The Byrds), "I Got You Babe" (1965, by Sonny & Cher), "Eve of Destruction" (1965, by Barry McGuire), "My Love" (1966, Petula Clark), "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" (1966, by Nancy Sinatra), "Monday, Monday" (1966, by The Mamas & the Papas), "Strangers in the Night" (1966, by Frank Sinatra), "Poor Side of Town" (1966, by Johnny Rivers), "Good Vibrations" (1966, by The Beach Boys), "Somethin' Stupid" (1967, by Frank & Nancy Sinatra), "The Happening" (1967, by The Supremes), "Windy" (1967, by The Association), "Mrs. Robinson" (1968, by Simon & Garfunkel), "Dizzy" (1969, by Tommy Roe), "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" (1969, by The 5th Dimension), "Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet" (1969, by Henry Mancini), "Wedding Bell Blues" (1969, by The 5th Dimension), "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (1970, by Simon & Garfunkel), "(They Long to Be) Close to You" (1970, by The Carpenters), "Cracklin' Rosie" (1970, by Neil Diamond), "I Think I Love You" (1970, by The Partridge Family), "Indian Reservation" (1971, by The Raiders), "Song Sung Blue" (1972, by Neil Diamond), "Half Breed" (1973, by Cher), "Top of the World" (1973, by The Carpenters), "The Way We Were" (1974, by Barbra Streisand), "Annie's Song" (1974, by John Denver), "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" (1975, by John Denver), "Love Will Keep Us Together" (1975, by Captain & Tennille), "I'm Sorry"/"Calypso" (1975, by John Denver), and "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" (1976, by Diana Ross).
Blaine's career declined considerably in the 1980s. The drum machine, an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion, became popular in the music industry. This largely eliminated the recording studios' demand for session drummers. Blaine found himself competing for work with musicians much younger than himself. He kept on working, by performing music for advertising jingles. Due to the decline in his personal finances, he took various odd jobs to supplement his income. At one point, he worked as a security guard.
Late in life, Blaine received some music industry recognition for his decades of solid work. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a sideman in 2000, inducted into the the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2010, and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.
In 2019, Blaine died in Palm Desert, California, due to unspecified "natural causes". He was 90-years-old. His former colleague Brian Wilson (1942-) commemorated his death with statements of praise for Blaine's music skills.