Hall of Fame Member Earl Palmer Dies at 84

He was the man who put the backbeat Tutti Frutti, You've Lost That Loving Feeling and River Deep, Mountain High. Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Earl Palmer passed away on Friday at the age of 84.

Palmer grew up in a vaudeville family and was tap dancing by the age of four. The rhythms got him interested in drums and he readily mastered the instrument, starting with BeBop Jazz and eventually gravitating toward blues and R&B.

His first professional gig started in 1947 when he joined Dave Bartholomew's band, which led to a long term association with Fats Domino starting with his 1950 hit The Fat Man. Palmer's use of backbeat throughout the entire record was one of the basis for the Rock and Roll sound. Palmer once said, "That song required a strong afterbeat throughout the whole piece. With Dixieland you had a strong afterbeat only after you got to the shout last chorus. ... It was sort of a new approach to rhythm music."

Palmer was the main drummer at Cosimo Matassa's recording studio in New Orleans for much of the 50's, playing on records like Tutti Frutti for Little Richard, I Hear You Knocking by Smiley Lewis and Lawdy Miss Clawdy for Lloyd Price, but in 1957 he received an offer from Los Angeles' Aladdin Records and he tried his fortunes in the west.

In L.A., Palmer became a highly respected session drummer working with everyone from Phil Spector to Frank Sinatra to B.B. King. He also was used extensively as a session drummer for movies and TV.

Palmer also tried his hand at recording under his own name. Although sales were not great, he released a number of albums, including Drumsville (1961) and Percolator Twist (1962).

A biography, Backbeat: The Earl Palmer Story, by Tony Scherman, was released in 1999 and, in 2000, he was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Among the thousands of recordings graced with the drums of Earl Palmer:


The Fat Man (Fats Domino)

Tipitina (Professor Longhair)
Tutti Frutti (Little Richard)
Blueberry Hill (Fats Domino)
Long Tall Sally (Little Richard)

I'm Walkin' (Fats Domino)
Lucille (Little Richard)

Chicken Shack Boogie (Amos Milburn)
Rockin' Robin (Bobby Day)
La Bamba (Ritchie Valens)
Little Bitty Pretty One (Thurston Harris)
You Send Me (Sam Cooke)
Sinatra and Swingin' Brass (Frank Sinatra)
The Little Old Lady From Pasadena (Jan & Dean)

You've Lost That Loving Feeling (Righteous Brothers)
River Deep, Mountain High (Ike and Tina Turner)
People Like Us (Mamas & the Papas)

Theme From Mission Impossible (Lalo Schifrin)
Birds, the Bees and the Monkees (Monkees)
Express Yourself (Charles Wright & the 103rd Street Rhythm Band)
Stoney End (Barbara Streisand)
L.A. Midnight (B.B. King)
Sail Away (Randy Newman)
Blue Valentine (Tom Waits)
King of America (Elvis Costello)


SOURCE: http://winkscollectibles.blogspot.com