20 Of The Greatest Drummers of All Time
A tribute to the twenty of the most impactful drummers in music history.
Attribution: ceedub13, CC BY 2.0
This list is in no particular order, highlighting drummers whose contributions have significantly shaped the evolution of music across genres and eras.
1. Neil Peart
Neil Ellwood Peart (September 12, 1952 – January 7, 2020) was a Canadian and American musician, known as the drummer, percussionist, and primary lyricist of the rock band Rush. He was known to fans by the nickname "the Professor", derived from the Gilligan's Island character of the same name. His drumming was renowned for its technical proficiency and his live performances for their exacting nature and stamina. Peart earned numerous awards for his musical performances, including an induction into the Modern Drummer Readers Poll Hall of Fame in 1983 at the age of thirty, making him the youngest person ever so honoured.
Source: wikipedia
2. John Bonham
John Henry Bonham (31 May 1948 – 25 September 1980) was an English musician who was the drummer of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Noted for his speed, power, fast single-footed kick drumming, distinctive sound, and feel for groove, he is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential drummers in history.
Source: wikipedia
3. Buddy Rich
Bernard "Buddy" Rich (September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987) was an American jazz drummer, songwriter, conductor, and bandleader. He is considered one of the most influential drummers of all time.
Source: wikipedia
4. Mike Portnoy
Michael Stephen Portnoy (born April 20, 1967) is an American musician who is primarily known as the drummer, backing vocalist, and co-founder of progressive metal band Dream Theater.
Source: wikipedia
5. Keith Moon
Keith John Moon (23 August 1946 – 7 September 1978) was an English musician who was the drummer for the rock band the Who. Regarded as one of the greatest drummers in the history of rock music, he was noted for his unique style of playing and his eccentric, often self-destructive behaviour.
Source: wikipedia
6. Ginger Baker
Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker (19 August 1939 – 6 October 2019) was an English drummer. His work in the 1960s and 1970s earned him the reputation of "rock's first superstar drummer", for a style that melded jazz and African rhythms and pioneered both jazz fusion and world music.
Source: wikipedia
7. Clyde Stubblefield
Clyde Austin Stubblefield (April 18, 1943 – February 18, 2017) was an American drummer best known for his work with James Brown, with whom he recorded and toured for six years (1965-70).
His syncopated drum patterns on Brown's recordings are considered funk standards. Samples of his drum performances (particularly his break in the 1970 track "Funky Drummer") were heavily used in hip hop music beginning in the 1980s, although Stubblefield frequently received no credit.
Source: wikipedia
8. Dave Lombardo
David Lombardo (born February 16, 1965) is a Cuban-American drummer, best known as a co-founding member of the thrash metal band Slayer. He currently plays drums with Fantômas, Dead Cross, Mr. Bungle, Empire State Bastard, and Misfits.
Source: wikipedia
9. Mitch Mitchell
John Graham "Mitch" Mitchell (9 July 1946 – 12 November 2008) was an English drummer and child actor, best known for his work in the Jimi Hendrix Experience, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2009. In 2016, Mitchell was ranked number 8 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Drummers of All Time".
Source: wikipedia
10. Danny Carey
Daniel Edwin Carey (born May 10, 1961) is an American musician and songwriter who is the drummer for the progressive metal band Tool. He has also contributed to albums by artists such as Zaum, Green Jellö, Pigface, Skinny Puppy, Adrian Belew, Carole King, Collide, Meat Puppets, Lusk, and the Melvins.
He was ranked among the 100 greatest drummers of all time by Rolling Stone magazine, occupying the 26th position, in addition to being frequently considered by other magazines.
Source: wikipedia
11. Billy Cobham
William Emanuel Cobham Jr. (born May 16, 1944) is a Panamanian–American jazz drummer who came to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with trumpeter Miles Davis and then with the Mahavishnu Orchestra.
He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1987 and the Classic Drummer Hall of Fame in 2013.
Source: wikipedia
12. Joe Morello
Joseph Albert "Joe" Morello (July 17, 1928[1] – March 12, 2011)[2] was an American jazz drummer best known for serving as the drummer for pianist Dave Brubeck, as part of the Dave Brubeck Quartet, from 1957 to 1972, including during the quartet's "classic lineup" from 1958 to 1968, which also included alto saxophonist Paul Desmond and bassist Eugene Wright. Morello's facility for playing unusual time signatures and rhythms enabled that group to record a series of albums that explored them. The most notable of these was the first in the series, the 1959 album Time Out, which contained the hit songs "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo à la Turk". In fact, "Take Five", the album's biggest hit (and the first jazz single to sell more than one million copies) was specifically written by Desmond as a way to showcase Morello's ability to play in 5/4 time.
Source: wikipedia
13. Gene Krupa
Eugene Bertram Krupa (January 15, 1909 – October 16, 1973) was an American jazz drummer, bandleader, and composer. Krupa is widely regarded as one of the most influential drummers in the history of popular music. His drum solo on Benny Goodman's 1937 recording of "Sing, Sing, Sing" elevated the role of the drummer from that of an accompanist to that of an important solo voice in the band.
In collaboration with the Slingerland drum- and Zildjian cymbal-manufacturers, he became a major force in defining the standard band-drummer's kit. Modern Drummer magazine regards Krupa as "the founding father of modern drumset playing". Upon his death, The New York Times labeled Krupa a "revolutionary" known for "frenzied, flashy" drumming, with his work having generated a significant musical legacy that started "in jazz and has continued on through the rock era".
Source: wikipedia
14. Stewart Copeland
Stewart Armstrong Copeland (born July 16, 1952) is an American musician and composer. He is best known for his work as the drummer of the British rock band the Police from 1977 to 1986, and again from 2007 to 2008. Before playing with the Police, he played drums with English rock band Curved Air from 1975 to 1976.
As a composer, Copeland's work includes the scores of the films Wall Street, Men at Work, Good Burger, and We Are Your Friends; the theme music for television shows The Equalizer, The Amanda Show, and Dead Like Me; and the scores for video games in the Spyro series and Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare. He has also written pieces for ballet, opera, and orchestra.
According to MusicRadar, Copeland's "distinctive drum sound and uniqueness of style has made him one of the most popular drummers to ever get behind a drumset". He was ranked the 10th best drummer of all time by Rolling Stone in 2016. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Police in 2003, the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2005, and the Classic Drummer Hall of Fame in 2013.
Source: wikipedia
15. Terry Bozzio
Terry John Bozzio (born December 27, 1950) is an American drummer best known for his work with Missing Persons, U.K., and Frank Zappa. He has been featured on nine solo or collaborative albums, 26 albums with Zappa and seven albums with Missing Persons.
Bozzio has been a prolific sideman, playing on numerous releases by other artists since the mid-1970s. He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1997.
Source: wikipedia
16. Dave Weckl
Dave Weckl (born January 8, 1960, in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American jazz fusion drummer and the leader of the Dave Weckl Band. He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2000.
Source: wikipedia
17. Bill Bruford
William Scott Bruford (born 17 May 1949) is an English drummer and percussionist who first gained prominence as a founding member of the progressive rock band Yes. After leaving Yes in 1972, Bruford spent the rest of the 1970s recording and touring with King Crimson (1972–1974), Roy Harper (1975), and U.K. (1978), as well as touring with Genesis (1976). In 1978, he formed his own group, Bruford, which was active until 1980.
During the 1980s, Bruford returned to King Crimson for three years (1981–1984), collaborated with several artists (including Patrick Moraz and David Torn), and formed his own electric jazz band Earthworks in 1986. He then played with his former Yes bandmates in Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe, which eventually led to a very brief second stint in Yes. Bruford played in King Crimson for his third and final tenure from 1994 to 1997, then continued with a new acoustic configuration of Earthworks.
In 2009, Bruford announced his retirement from professional drumming. He pursued other projects, including the operation of his two record labels, Summerfold and Winterfold, releasing an autobiography, and speaking and writing about music. In 2016, Bruford received a PhD in Music from the University of Surrey. That year, Bruford ranked No. 16 on Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Drummers of All Time". In 2017, Bruford was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Yes.[3] In 2022, after a 13-year hiatus, he returned to live performance as a member of the Pete Roth Trio.
Source: wikipedia
18. Cozy Powell
Cozy Powell (born Colin Trevor Flooks; 29 December 1947 – 5 April 1998) was an English drummer who made his name with major rock bands and artists such as The Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Gary Moore, Graham Bonnet, Brian May, Whitesnake, Emerson, Lake & Powell, and Black Sabbath.
Powell appeared on at least 66 albums, with contributions on many other recordings. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential drummers of all time; many rock drummers have cited him as a major influence.
Source: wikipedia
19. Ian Paice
Ian Anderson Paice (born 29 June 1948) is an English musician who is the drummer and last remaining original member of the rock band Deep Purple. He remains the only member of Deep Purple who has served in every line-up since the band's inception in 1968, as well as having played on every album and at every live appearance. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Deep Purple in 2016.
Aside from Deep Purple, he was also a member of a number of projects that also involved other Deep Purple members, including Whitesnake (also featuring Jon Lord and David Coverdale, both of Deep Purple), and Paice Ashton Lord (also featuring Jon Lord). He also played drums backing other musicians, including Gary Moore, the Velvet Underground, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison.
Source: wikipedia
20. Alex Van Halen
Alexander Arthur Van Halen (born May 8, 1953) is an American musician who was the drummer and a co-founder of the rock band Van Halen, which was formed in 1972 by Van Halen and his younger brother Eddie under the name "Mammoth" before adding Michael Anthony and David Lee Roth in 1974 and changing their name to Van Halen.
Warner Bros. signed the band in 1977, and the band's debut album was released a year later. Prior to their disbandment in 2020, following Eddie's death, Van Halen released 12 studio albums, and the brothers were the only two constant members of the band. Noted for his technical prowess, speed, and power, Alex Van Halen is widely regarded as one of the greatest drummers of all time.
Source: wikipedia
About Chris Roditis
Chris Roditis has been an active musician since 1995 in various bands and projects across a variety of genres ranging from acoustic, electronic to nu metal, british rock and trip hop. He has extensive experience as a mixing engineer and producer and has built recording studios for most of the projects he has been involved with. His passion for music steered his entrepreneurial skills into founding MusicNGear in 2012.
Contact Chris Roditis at chrisroditis@musicngear.com
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