25-04-2021, 20:43
Happy Birthday to Steve Ferrone who turns 71 today. He was born in Brighton, England in 1950. He’s loaned his skill with the sticks to the work of a wide range of musicians - from Eric Clapton, Tom Petty (he was a Heartbreaker) and Paul Simon, to Chaka Khan, George Harrison and Duran Duran not to mention a whole lot more in between!
He’s had nothing if not a colourful career! And it all started with tap dancing, lol! As a three-year old with a mother who was a Fred Astaire fan, when young Steve started banging his spoon on his plate at the table, he got packed off to tap lessons at which he was adept. A little further down the line, he spotted a drummer in an orchestra pit, became intrigued with the fact that he was doing two (or more) different things at the same time and decided to give it a whirl for himself.
Added to that the fact that when he was at a Manfred Mann concert (at the age of 12) and the girls showed far more interest in the band than they did in the dance troupe he was with, his mind was made up – he persuaded some buddies to start their own band, and voila! He figured things out for himself and seems to have had a curiosity, which along with a positive attitude, and some crucial mentoring by music producer Arif Mardin, probably stood him in good stead throughout his career. That, and a well developed sense of humour.
He tells a good story about this clip which has been watched a gazillion times – Prince was an unexpected addition to the line-up at the behest of the event organisers, and to the mild distaste of some of the musos, if their body language is anything to go by. Steve Ferrone says that Prince did a little solo during their practice - none of them had any idea he was going to steal the show, throw himself backwards off the stage in front of them, or toss his guitar at the end, and that he (Steve) thought it was more of a performance for them, the ‘band’ than the audience. They all conceded that solo tho’ … would have been churlish not to, really, cheeky as it was … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SFNW5F8K9Y
There’s this – with Paul Simon which was a real challenge - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR-WAfxOEKY
“Fault Lines” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreaker’s final album - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-4-sT2KFdo
And because I chose to listen to Christine McVie’s eponymously titled album ...
He’s had nothing if not a colourful career! And it all started with tap dancing, lol! As a three-year old with a mother who was a Fred Astaire fan, when young Steve started banging his spoon on his plate at the table, he got packed off to tap lessons at which he was adept. A little further down the line, he spotted a drummer in an orchestra pit, became intrigued with the fact that he was doing two (or more) different things at the same time and decided to give it a whirl for himself.
Added to that the fact that when he was at a Manfred Mann concert (at the age of 12) and the girls showed far more interest in the band than they did in the dance troupe he was with, his mind was made up – he persuaded some buddies to start their own band, and voila! He figured things out for himself and seems to have had a curiosity, which along with a positive attitude, and some crucial mentoring by music producer Arif Mardin, probably stood him in good stead throughout his career. That, and a well developed sense of humour.
He tells a good story about this clip which has been watched a gazillion times – Prince was an unexpected addition to the line-up at the behest of the event organisers, and to the mild distaste of some of the musos, if their body language is anything to go by. Steve Ferrone says that Prince did a little solo during their practice - none of them had any idea he was going to steal the show, throw himself backwards off the stage in front of them, or toss his guitar at the end, and that he (Steve) thought it was more of a performance for them, the ‘band’ than the audience. They all conceded that solo tho’ … would have been churlish not to, really, cheeky as it was … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SFNW5F8K9Y
There’s this – with Paul Simon which was a real challenge - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR-WAfxOEKY
“Fault Lines” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreaker’s final album - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-4-sT2KFdo
And because I chose to listen to Christine McVie’s eponymously titled album ...
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." ~ Bill Watterson