Drummer Hal Blaine of "The Wrecking Crew" dies at age 90.

[Motown Eddie]

From Rolling Stone Magazine.com:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/hal-blaine-drummer-dead-90-806827/

[Motown Eddie]

Just noticed that the link I provided to the above article is not working so here's a portion of the same news from Variety. RIP Hal Blaine.


Drummer Hal Blaine [[https://variety.com/t/hal-blaine/), who propelled dozens of major hit records during the ‘60s and ‘70s as a member of the “Wrecking Crew,” Hollywood’s elite, ubiquitous cadre of first-call studio musicians, died Monday, according to a statement from family members on his official Facebook page. He was 90.“May he rest forever on 2 and 4,” read the statement. “The family appreciates your outpouring of support and prayers that have been extended to Hal from around the world, and respectfully request privacy in this time of great mourning. No further details will be released at this time.”According to a 2017 Modern Drummer feature by Dennis Diken [[himself the drummer of the New Jersey band the Smithereens), Blaine appeared on more than 35,000 recordings, including some 6,000 singles.“Blaine’s drumming could be found on all reaches of the Hot 100 — usually near the top,” Diken wrote.

Keyboardist Don Randi, a fellow member of the Wrecking Crew, told Variety, “He was a trend setter for rock ‘n’ roll drumming.”He was featured on the majority of Phil Spector [[https://variety.com/t/phil-spector/)’s “Wall of Sound” productions, including the Ronettes’ “Be My Baby,” which featured perhaps the most indelible drum introduction in rock ‘n’ roll history. He also appeared on many of the Beach Boys [[https://variety.com/t/beach-boys/)’ best-known records [[standing in for the L.A. band’s Dennis Wilson), including the classic 1966 album “Pet Sounds” and the experimental single from that same year, “Good Vibrations.”Blaine appeared on such No. 1 hits as the Crystals’ “He’s a Rebel,” the Byrds’ “Mr. Tambourine Man,” Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night,” Simon & Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” the 5th Dimension’s “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In,” the Carpenters’ “Close to You” and Barbra Streisand’s “The Way We Were.”The most adaptable of studio percussionists, he also cut dates such notables as Elvis Presley [[on both record and movie dates), Sam Cooke, Dean Martin, Jan & Dean, Johnny Rivers, the Monkees, Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Nancy Sinatra, the Mamas and the Papas, Cher, John Denver and Steely Dan.In the end it may be easier to list the musicians he didn’t support during his years of work during the heyday of such Hollywood studios as Capitol, Gold Star, United, Western and RCA. His work also encompassed movie soundtracks and TV scores and themes.One of the most versatile players on the L.A. scene, Blaine credited his popularity as a session man to his sensitivity to a song’s specific demands behind the kit. He told Diken, “I was like a painter as a drummer accompanist. I used my drumsticks sort of like a painter’s brushes. I filled in spaces and colored my work according to that given story.”

[Boogiedown]

Blaine's significance to pop music can not be overstated. Phil Spector, Beach Boys, Carpenters Fifth dimension , on and on .

Example:Could this song be a tenth as powerful without his [[controlled but purposeful ) drumming toward the end that doesn't even begin until half way into the song? Who thinks to do that?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_a46WJ1viA

RIP thank you

[jboy88]

This man along with Benny Benjamin, Al Jackson and Earl Young is on my Mount Rushmore of studio session drummers! [[I have more than one) As sad as it is to see him leave us, it’s nice to see a high number by his age. Not too many in the business make it that far!

[55Motown]

Great drummer. Sad loss, like many of the others no longer with us. When I did 'Libby, let's leave it at that', I imagined it to be the wrecking crew etc. Hal Blaine was a massive influence on that track along with Brian Wilson.

[robb_k]

This man, along with Benny Benjamin, Al Jackson and Earl Young is on my Mount Rushmore of studio session drummers! [[I have more than one) As sad as it is to see him leave us, it’s nice to see a high number by his age. Not too many in the business make it that far!
15269
What about Pretty Purdie, Maurice White, Pistol Allen, Uriel Jones, George McGregor, and Melvin Davis, and David T. Walker?

[jboy88]

15269
What about Pretty Purdie, Maurice White, Pistol Allen, Uriel Jones, George McGregor, and Melvin Davis, and David T. Walker?

They’re the honorable mentions!