Charles Connor

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Charles Connor (born January 14, 1935 in New Orleans , † July 31, 2021 in Glendale , California ) was an American drummer in the genres of rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll . He was a member of Little Richard's live band The Upsetters . Little Richard's called intro "A-wop bop-a loo-mop, a-lop bam-boom" by Tutti Frutti is said to be based on Connor's beats.

Connor was born in New Orleans. His father was from Santo Domingo and was a member of the United States Merchant Marine , and his mother was from Louisiana . As a child he heard his father sing calypso and he followed the marching bands of the French Quarter , who performed their Dixieland . He named Bob Alden , Art Blakey , Charles Otis , Gene Krupa , Buddy Rich and Max Roach as role models . He got his first drum kit when he was five years old.

In 1950, 15-year-old Connor made his first professional appearance with Professor Longhair at the Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Over the next three years, he was booked by Smiley Lewis , Guitar Slim , Champion Jack Dupree, and Shirley and Lee . At the age of 18 he was hired by Little Richard's live band The Upsetters and drummed for the rock 'n' roller through its heyday until 1957. While Little Richard's recordings in New Orleans were being played by Earl Palmer on drums, Charles Connor was losing Angeles and when visiting the studio during the touring. So he's on The Girl Can't Help It , She's Got It , Ooh! My Soul and Keep A-Knockin ' . In the latter, he played a four-bar drum intro, which was copied 15 years later by John Bonham as the start of Led Zeppelin's Rock and Roll . In between, Connor got the opportunity to play for James Brown because they both had the same promoter. He can be heard among other things. on "Don't Let It Happen to Me", "Got to Cry" and "I Want You So Bad" (1959). Brown praised Connor as "the first [drummer] to bring funk into the rhythm". He later played for Sam Cooke , Jackie Wilson , The Coasters , Big Joe Turner , Larry Williams , Don Covay , George Lightfoot and Dee Clark .

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Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Charles Connor, Drummer for Little Richard, Dies at 86. In: Billboard. August 1, 2021, accessed August 2, 2021 .
  2. ^ On This Day in Louisiana Music History. In: Satchmo. Archived from the original on April 21, 2012 ; Retrieved May 1, 2012 .
  3. ↑ Rick Coleman: Blue Monday: Fats Domino and the lost dawn of rock 'n' roll . Da Capo Press, Cambridge, MA 2006, ISBN 0-306-81491-9 , pp. 9 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g Biography. In: Legendary Drummer. Archived from the original on September 20, 2008 ; Retrieved December 13, 2012 .
  5. ^ Neil Wynn: Cross the water blues: African American music in Europe . Univ. Press of Mississippi, Jackson 2007, ISBN 1-57806-960-2 , pp. 194 .
  6. ↑ Drum legend Charles Connor keeps on knockin '. In: Goldmine Magazine. F + W Media, accessed on December 13, 2012 .
personal data
SURNAME Connor, Charles
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Connor, Chuck
SHORT DESCRIPTION American rock and roll drummer
BIRTH DATE January 14, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH New Orleans
DATE OF DEATH July 31, 2021
PLACE OF DEATH Glendale , California