The Smiley Smile Message Board

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Leading R&B drummer Earl Palmer, best known for his New Orleans recording sessions with the likes of Fats Domino and Little Richard, died on Friday at his home in Los Angeles at age 84, his family said.

Palmer, who died after a lengthy illness, played on hundreds of hits during a career that ran from the 1940s through the 1970s and earned him an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

His drumming on such hits as Fats Domino's "The Fat Man," Richard's "Tutti Frutti and Smiley Lewis's "I Hear You Knockin'" featured the strong back beat that was his signature and helped transform the lope of rhythm and blues into the full-tilt thrust of rock 'n' roll.

"That song required a strong after-beat throughout the whole piece," Palmer wrote of his work on "The Fat Man" in his 1999 autobiography, "Backbeat -- The Earl Palmer Story."

"With Dixieland you had a strong after-beat only after you got to the shout last chorus," he said. "It was sort of a new approach to rhythm music."

Palmer also played drums on Domino's "I'm Walkin,'" the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin,'" Ike and Tina Turner's "River Deep, Mountain High," and Sam Cooke's "Twistin' the Night Away."

His handiwork behind the drums was featured as well on a number of popular television themes, including "The Odd Couple," "77 Sunset Strip" and "The Brady Bunch."

In addition to his collaboration with R&B and blues artists in New Orleans, Palmer was a highly sought-after session player for recording stars ranging from Frank Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan to Elvis Costello, Ray Charles, Dizzie Gillespie and Count Basie. Reuters/Nielsen.

Also: http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Earl_Palmer.html

Didn't he play on The Beach Boys' "Please Let Me Wonder" as well?

I swear someone on this board said he also played on a song on Sunflower...probably either "Slip on Through" or "Its About Time"... I'm pretty sure I read/heard that he played on one of Dennis' songs from that album.

Huh... I didn't know it was the same guy.

Wikipedia lists The Beach Boys' cover of "Seasons In The Sun" as another song he played on.

Ah yes, here it is, "It's About Time":

http://recordingsunflower.blogspot.com/2008/02/track-6-its-about-time.html

Courtesy of Aeijtzsche.

I thought so. I mean, I knew the name, just not it was the Earl Palmer.

Earl "The Pearl" Palmer . . . a true legend on drums.

Earl played on a lot of Jan & Dean tracks with Hal Blaine . . . and he also did the earlier Jan & Arnie sessions in 1958.

I was lucky enough to talk to Earl about Jan Berry, as part of my research.

I hate to hear he's gone . . . but I knew he'd been ill for some time.

M.

Didn't know if this has been posted. I know he played on the Today! record.


Hall of Fame drummer Earl Palmer dead at 84

7 hours ago

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Earl Palmer, the session drummer whose pioneering backbeats were recorded on such classics as Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" and The Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'," has died. He was 84.

Palmer died Friday at his Los Angeles home after fighting a lengthy illness, his spokesman Kevin Sasaki said.

Born in New Orleans in 1924 and later moving to Los Angeles, Palmer worked extensively in both cities, recording with some of the music world's all-time greats on thousands of tracks.

His beats form the backdrop on Ike and Tina Turner's "River Deep, Mountain High," Fats Domino's "The Fat Man" and "I Hear You Knockin'" by Smiley Lewis.

From his Los Angeles home, Palmer drummed for music producer Phil Spector and Motown, and his session credits include artists as diverse as the Monkees, Neil Young and Frank Sinatra.

"He was groundbreaking," said Ed Vodika, the pianist in the Earl Palmer Trio. Palmer "shaped American music for the '50s, '60s and '70s."

Vodika said he met Palmer about 10 years ago and was asked to join the trio. The pianist said he spent the next five years playing weekly gigs in Los Angeles that attracted a host of big-name musicians, from Bonnie Raitt to Ringo Starr.

"He worked with so many people in his career ... you never knew who would be in the audience," Vodika said.

Palmer was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. According to the institution's Web site, Little Richard wrote in his autobiography that Palmer "is probably the greatest session drummer of all time."

Palmer married four times and is survived by his seven children.

R.I.P., Earl.  A great musician.

Some of the BB cuts he played on:  Please Let Me Wonder, Sherry She Needs Me, It's About Time, Seasons In The Sun, Life Is For The Living, Deep Purple, It's Over Now, Still I Dream Of It, Sumahama, and Song Within A Song (unreleased and unbooted 1980 track).  And tons of Jan & Dean stuff.