Celebrity Death: Hal Blaine, 90

[Teemu]

One of the most prolific studio drummers. He played on dozens of hits in the 1960s and early 1970s with the rest of the "Wrecking Crew" (Wikipedia has a good list on the Wrecking Crew article). He also played on much of the studio material for Simon & Garfunkel and the Beach Boys.

Hal Blaine, Wrecking Crew Drummer, Dies at 90

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[kook10]

A legend. RIP

 

[Acadmus]

I'd heard the name, didn't know who he was and had to look him up this morning. You've left out key details: he is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, for instance, and he played drums on Pet Sounds for the Beach Boys, including on Good Vibrations. His work appeared on more than 35,000 recordings and 6,000 singles. I've heard the Wrecking Crew mentioned most recently by Mike Nesmith of The Monkees on some interviews on one of the Sirius channels talking about the Bakersfield country scene of the 60s, as Blaine worked with I believe both The Monkees and Nesmith individually. He worked with Elvis, The Mama's and the Papa's, John Denver, Nancy Sinatra, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, most of Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound", Steely Dan, and many, many, many other household name musicians. He started out with Count Basie (at least that's how I'm reading it).

 

[Preds Partisan]

Classic example of a guy that nobody ever heard of but everybody heard. Such is the life of a session musician.

Hopefully more people will get to know who he was and how much of a legend he remains.