Hal Blaine

Hal Blaine (born Harold Simon Belsky; February 5, 1929 – March 11, 2019) was an American drummer and session musician,[1] estimated to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the history of the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions[1] and 6,000 singles. His drumming is featured on 150 US top 10 hits, 40 of which went to number one, as well as many film and television soundtracks.

Hal Blaine
Blaine recording at the Record Plant in 1995
Background information
Birth nameHarold Simon Belsky
Born(1929-02-05)February 5, 1929
Holyoke, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedMarch 11, 2019(2019-03-11) (aged 90)
Palm Desert, California, U.S.
Genres
Instruments
Years active1949–2019
Associated acts

Born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Blaine moved with his family to California in 1943 and subsequently began playing jazz and big band music before taking up rock and roll session work. He became one of the regular players in Phil Spector's de facto house band, which Blaine nicknamed "the Wrecking Crew". Some of the records Blaine played on include the Ronettes' single "Be My Baby" (1963), which contained a drum beat that became widely imitated, as well as works by popular artists such as Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, the Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, the Carpenters, Neil Diamond, and the Byrds.[2]

Blaine's workload declined from the 1980s onwards as recording and musical practices changed. In 2000, he was among the inaugural "sidemen" inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2018 he received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Life and career

Blaine was born Harold Simon Belsky to Jewish Eastern European immigrants, Meyer and Rose Belsky (née Silverman),[3] in Holyoke, Massachusetts, United States.[4] When he was seven, he moved with his family to Hartford, Connecticut.[5] He began playing drums at the age of eight,[6] and again moved with his family to California in 1943.[7]

From 1949 to 1952, Blaine learned drums from Roy Knapp, who had also taught jazz drummer Gene Krupa.[8] He began his professional career playing overnight sessions in Chicago strip clubs, which allowed him to practice and perfect his sight reading skills.[8] He subsequently played as part of Count Basie's big band and toured with Patti Page and Tommy Sands before taking up session work.[7] Unlike many of his jazz contemporaries, Blaine enjoyed playing rock and roll and this meant he played on numerous such sessions during the 1950s. He was a core member of the Wrecking Crew, the close-knit group of Los Angeles session musicians that played on hit records during the 1960s.[9] Blaine claimed to have invented the name as the "old-school" studio musicians feared these new, younger guys were a "destructive force" in the conservative studio environment of the time.[6]

Blaine played less session work from the 1980s onwards as computers and electronics began to be used in studios, and producers began to bring in younger players.[10] The popularisation of the drum machine also reduced demand for session drummers like Blaine.[11] He kept busy recording advertising jingles for a number of years, before semi-retiring from performing.[10] Most of his wealth was lost following his divorce. At one point, he was working as a security guard in Arizona.[2]

Death

Blaine died of natural causes on March 11, 2019, at the age of 90 in Palm Desert, California.[12][13] A statement from his family read "May he rest forever on 2 and 4", referring to the second and fourth beats of a measure in music.[14] Beatles drummer Ringo Starr and Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson expressed public condolences and praised Blaine's musicianship.[6] Ronnie Spector praised Blaine for "the magic he put on all our Ronettes recordings".[6]

Legacy and recognition

Blaine was a prolific session player and by his estimation played on over 35,000 recordings, including 6,000 singles.[9][15] He is widely regarded as one of the most in-demand drummers in rock and roll history, having "certainly played on more hit records than any drummer in the rock era".[16] His drumming can be heard as part of the Wall of Sound on the Ronettes' 1963 single "Be My Baby",[17] produced by Phil Spector at Hollywood's Gold Star Studios. Drummer Max Weinberg wrote, "If Hal Blaine had played drums only on ... 'Be My Baby', his name would still be uttered with reverence and respect for the power of his big beat."[18] The pattern was created when Blaine accidentally hit the snare on just the fourth beat, instead of the two and four. It was a mistake that Spector decided to leave in.[19] Blaine is also credited with popularising the "disco beat" after he recorded a "pshh-shup" sound by opening and closing the hi-hat at appropriate intervals on Johnny Rivers' "Poor Side of Town". The effect had been widely used in jazz, but professional recording engineers disliked it because of its resemblance to white noise. The sound subsequently became sought-after by producers in the 1970s.[8]

Stamp used by Blaine

"Hal Blaine Strikes Again" was a rubber stamp used by Blaine to mark music scores and places where he played. When asked to explain about the stamp, Blaine said, "I always stamp my charts. And there's a reason why I started that; it wasn't all ego."[18] The stamp was used for any piece of music Blaine played on.[18] Another drummer, Mike Botts, then with the band Bread, recalled: "Every studio I went to in the late sixties, there was a rubber stamp imprint on the wall of the drum booth that said, 'Hal Blaine strikes again.' Hal was getting so many studio dates he actually had a rubber stamp made. He was everywhere!"[20]

In 2014, Blaine was portrayed by Johnny Sneed in the film Love & Mercy, a biopic of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson.[2]

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Hal Blaine among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.[21]

Awards and accolades

Blaine played on six consecutive Grammy Award Record of the Year winners:[10]

In March 2000, Blaine was one of the first five sidemen inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (one of the other inductees was his long-time friend and drumming colleague Earl Palmer).[22] He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2010.[23] In 2018, he received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.[24]

Selected performances

In addition to playing on 150 US top 10 singles, Blaine played drums on 39 recordings that hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100.[6] The dates given are when each song reached number one:[25]

Discography
  • Deuces, T's, Roadsters and Drums (1963)
  • Drums! Drums! A Go Go (1966)
  • Psychedelic Percussion (1967)
  • Have Fun!!! Play Drums!!! (1968)
  • Buh-Doom (1998)

Collaborations

With Barbra Streisand

With Sonny & Cher

With Rodney Crowell

With John Lennon

With Sam Cooke

With Dion DiMucci

With John Phillips

With Helen Reddy

With Johnny Rivers

  • Changes (Imperial Records, 1966)
  • Rewind (Imperial Records, 1967)
  • Realization (Imperial Records, 1968)
  • Slim Slo Slider (Imperial Records, 1970)
  • Wild Night (United Artists Records, 1976)
  • Outside Help (Big Tree Records, 1977)

With Michael Nesmith

With Rosanne Cash

With Glen Campbell

With Cass Elliot

With Simon & Garfunkel

With Cher

  • Stars (Warner Bros. Records, 1975)

With John Denver

With Emmylou Harris

With Barry Mann

  • Survivor (RCA Victor, 1975)

With Nancy Sinatra

  • Sugar (Reprise Records, 1966)
  • Nancy (Reprise Records, 1969)

With Elkie Brooks

With Juice Newton

With Dusty Springfield

  • Cameo (ABC Records, 1973)

With J. J. Cale

With Dennis Wilson

With Leonard Cohen

With José Feliciano

  • 10 to 23 (RCA Victor, 1969)

With Lulu

  • Lulu (Polydor Records, 1973)

With Paul Simon

With Paul Anka

  • Life Goes On (RCA Victor, 1969)

With Jackie Lomax

With Bobby Darin

With Delaney & Bonnie

  • Genesis (GNP, 1971)

With Art Garfunkel

With Neil Diamond

With Aretha Franklin

With Thelma Houston

With Van Dyke Parks

See also

References
  1. Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. p. 144. ISBN 1-85227-745-9.
  2. Lewis, Randy (March 11, 2019). "Hal Blaine, prolific 'Wrecking Crew' drummer who worked with Frank Sinatra and Elvis, dies at 90". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  3. Sandomir, Richard (March 12, 2019). "Hal Blaine, Wrecking Crew Drummer, Is Dead at 90". Nytimes.com.
  4. Blaine, Hal; Goggin, David (1990). Schwartz, David M. (ed.). Hal Blaine and the Wrecking Crew. Emeryville, California: MixBooks. ISBN 978-1888408126.
  5. Harrison, Smith (March 12, 2019). "Hal Blaine, celebrated as 'the most recorded drummer in history,' dies at 90". Washington Post. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
  6. "'Greatest drummer ever' Hal Blaine dies aged 90". BBC News. March 12, 2019. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  7. "Hal Blaine, Studio Drummer Dies at 90". Variety. March 11, 2019. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  8. "4 Things You Didn't Know About Hal Blaine". Drum Magazine. September 21, 2018. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  9. "The Wrecking Crew's Hal Blaine: my 11 greatest recordings of all time". Music Radar. May 23, 2011. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  10. "Hal Blaine". Performing Arts Society. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  11. Sandomir, Richard (March 11, 2019). "Hal Blaine, Pop Music's Go-To Studio Drummer, Is Dead at 90". The New York Times. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  12. Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (March 12, 2019). "Hal Blaine, drummer who dominated mid-century pop, dies aged 90". The Guardian. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  13. Fessler, Bruce (March 11, 2019). "Hal Blaine, most honored drummer in rock history, dies at Palm Desert home". The Desert Sun. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  14. "Hal Blaine, Wrecking Crew Drummer, Dies at 90". Billboard. March 11, 2019. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  15. "Hal Blaine". Modern Drummer. July 2017. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  16. "Hal Blaine Biography". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
  17. Whitburn, Joel (1992). Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits. New York: Billboard Books. ISBN 978-0823085545.
  18. Weinberg, Max; Santelli, Robert (1991). The Big Beat: Conversations With Rock's Great Drummers. Foreword by Bruce Springsteen. New York: Billboard Books. pp. 75–77. ISBN 978-0823075713.
  19. "Hal Blaine: Every No. 1 Hit The Wrecking Crew Drummer Played On". Billboard.com.
  20. "Americanheritage.com – The Wrecking Crew". Americanheritage.com. Archived from the original on September 25, 2010. Retrieved May 23, 2014.
  21. Rosen, Jody (June 25, 2019). "Here Are Hundreds More Artists Whose Tapes Were Destroyed in the UMG Fire". The New York Times. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  22. Amendola, Billy (2005). "An Interview with Hal Blaine". Modern Drummer. ISSN 0194-4533.
  23. "Modern Drummer's Readers Poll Archive, 1979–2014". Modern Drummer. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
  24. Fabian, Renée (January 9, 2018). "Tina Turner To Queen: 2018 Recording Academy Special Merit Awards". The Recording Academy.
  25. Bronson, Fred, The Billboard Book of Number One Hits, Billboard Books, 1992
  26. Bidini, Dave. On a Cold Road: Tales of Adventure in Canadian Rock. Random House. p. 28. ISBN 978-1-551-99675-2.
  27. "Surf City". AllMusic. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  28. "The Beatmaster". Washington Post. July 13, 1997. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  29. Blaine 1990, p. xviii.
  30. "Reaching the Eve of Destruction". The Wall Street Journal. December 9, 2014. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  31. Bronson, Fred (1988). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. New York: Billboard Publications, Inc. p. 223. ISBN 978-0823076772.
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