Hal Blaine (born Harold Simon Belsky; February 5, 1929) is an American drummer and session musician. He is most known for his work with the Wrecking Crew in California. Blaine has played on 40 number one hit singles, 150 top ten hits and has performed on, by his own accounting, over 35,000 recorded tracks. He is widely regarded as one of the most prolific drummers in rock and roll history, having “certainly played on more hit records than any drummer in the rock era”. Blaine is a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum, and the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2010. (More from Wikipedia)
Drummer Hal Blaine dubbed the group the Wrecking Crew; Wikipedia says: “According to Blaine, the name ‘The Wrecking Crew’ was derived from the impression that he and the younger studio musicians made on the business’s older generation, who felt that they were going to wreck the music industry.”
The statistics about the Wrecking Crew are staggering, with various members appearing on tens of thousands of recordings. Hal Blaine is believed to be the most recorded drummer in history, while Tommy Tedesco is said to be the most recorded guitarist. From Wikipedia: “Blaine is credited with having played on at least forty U.S. #1 hits and more than 150 Top Ten records.”
Hal Blaine and another drummer Earl Palmer were the first Sidemen inductees in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000; the entire Wrecking Crew was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2007.
(February 2015)
