Fabulously Flamboyant Fridays: Ivory Cutlery’s Day Off Pt. 3

Greetings pop pickers and please be welcome to tonight’s Fabulously Flamboyant Friday and another of our fortnightly mastications upon the marshmallowy pillows of musical magnificence.

Tonight, dear reader, as we mark both Peanut Butter Day and International Squirrel Appreciation Day, Ivory Cutlery (currently numb of buttock, sore of foot and tired of limb) will once again be taking the night off.

I’m afraid the onerous real-world pressure of being consistently and reliably incompetent has, for the moment at least, somewhat limited my spare time and therefore my opportunities for the seemingly endless hours of rigorous, fact-checked research that goes into a typical Fabulously Flamboyant Friday missive*.

*a transparent tissue of lies

I have toiled long in Mordor (Central Reading), where my burdens have been burdensome and my toiling has been toilsome. Because of this, tonight’s missive will be a shoddy and shambolic affair, a puerile stream of consciousness, written rapidly in a succession of shabby hotels, sweaty backstage areas and deeply insalubrious crew catering tents.

And so, without further ado, laydees and gentlebodies, Fabulously Flamboyant Fridays proudly presents my favourite… um… *shuffles frantically through notebook*… singing drummers!** Not arf!

**not entirely guaranteed to contain no Genesis drummers

I suppose we have to start with the great Ringo Starr. Dave Clark and Ringo were probably the highest profile singing drummers in the early 60s, with Ringo of course being much maligned as a drummer. The famous quote, “Ringo isn’t the best drummer in the world, he isn’t even the best drummer in the Beatles”, is often attributed to John Lennon, but was in fact probably first uttered by the British comedian, Jasper Carrott, somewhere around the early 80s.

I for one, however, am perfectly happy to defend Ringo’s drumming style. He was certainly no Billy Cobham, but I always found his work innovative and usually perfect for the song in hand. Tomorrow Never Knows (easily one of the most influential songs the Beatles ever produced) is a great example. Ringo’s lopsided contribution is absolutely perfect for the track. Once you’ve heard it, it simply couldn’t be played in any other way, and I feel pretty much the same about Strawberry Fields Forever – Ringo absolutely nails it. His contribution to the feel and atmosphere of the track is essential. Ringo might not be the best drummer in the world, but as many have pointed out, he really was the best drummer for The Beatles.

And so we move from the Fab Four to the Pre-Fab Four: aka The Monkees. By the late 60s, the highest profile singing drummer was probably Micky Dolenz. Dolenz, when he first joined The Monkees, famously couldn’t play drums at all, but he quickly set about putting that right. He was, in fact, a pretty decent guitarist, but the producers wanted him behind the drum kit, so he knuckled down and did a very good job as a drummer. He quickly mastered enough technique and skill to mime along to pre-recorded drum tracks, but before very long he was actually playing drums in the recording studio and eventually reached a standard suitable for live performance as an on-stage drummer – and to be fair, he made a pretty decent fist of it.

And now we turn to a proper professional drummer: Karen Carpenter. Ms Carpenter (who once infuriated John Bonham by beating him in a public poll of favourite drummers) really did have some serious chops. Her percussive performances owed nothing to novelty or frippery and we’ll have no Dr. Johnson quotes here, thank you very much. Karen Carpenter was a very fine drummer, right from the early days of The Carpenters. However, as her voice was so damn good, she was eventually persuaded to step out from behind the kit (where she was most comfortable) to front the band – and the rest, of course, is history.

Talk of singing drummers inevitably means we have to talk about Genesis and their very famous singing drummer, Peter Gabriel. Nope – that’s not a typo. Everyone ducking for cover because they expected a Phil Collins onslaught can relax and come out from behind the sofa, because the Genesis vocalist Peter Gabriel started his musical career as a drummer.

To be fair, he very quickly moved from the skins to focus on singing and there is very little video evidence to support this claim of Gabriel’s percussive prowess (bugger all, in fact), but I did once witness Peter Gabriel perform from behind the drum kit for Genesis during a reunion concert back in the early 80s.

Genesis, for contractual reasons, couldn’t call themselves Genesis when this reunion gig took place, so they took to the stage as Six of the Best (a nod to their public school origins, no doubt) to perform a fund raising reunion between Genesis, their former frontman Peter Gabriel and their former guitarist Steve Hackett.

It was a one-off event that took place, outdoors, on a freezing October night in 1982 at the Milton Keynes Bowl – and it poured down all day. The rain was freezing and I don’t think I’ve ever been as cold and wet and miserable at a UK event. It was a truly horrid, filthy day. However, Genesis rose to the occasion, were truly magnificent and warmed the cockles of our cold and sodden hearts.

The event was staged to raise funds for Gabriel’s WOMAD festival project, which at the time was in very deep financial trouble, and the Milton Keynes gig remains (I believe) the only time Gabriel and Hackett have performed with the band since their departures in the mid to late 70s.

Anyway, at one point during the set, Gabriel handed the microphone to Collins and Gabriel replaced Collins behind the drum kit. That’s the only time I’ve ever seen Peter Gabriel play drums, and, as far as my addled recollections can be relied upon, he seemed to do a pretty decent job.

Describing Kevin Godley as a singing drummer is not really doing justice to his talents. He was part of the ridiculously talented, early 70s line-up of 10cc. The four members of 10cc were all highly skilled singer-songwriters and multi-instrumentalists. In fact, a former colleague of mine who toured with the original line-up of 10cc in the 70s always claimed he had never experienced more talent per square foot of stage in his entire career. I saw that line-up perform a few times and am happy to support that sentiment. In fact they had so much ability, with everything seeming to be so easy and effortless for them, I think an unwanted touch of cynicism crept into their performances. Nevertheless, they were a supremely gifted outfit and Kevin Godley thoroughly deserves his place on this list.

Roger Taylor is of course best known as the drummer for Queen, providing lots of backing vocals and the occasional lead vocal. But he also had a pretty decent solo career. He was the first Queen member to go solo in the 70s and released a couple of solo albums in the early 80s. Taylor also formed a band called The Cross in the mid 80s, releasing three albums, which did particularly well in Germany. He’ll always be best know as the drummer for Queen, but he’s a pretty decent frontman and a talented multi-instrumentalist.

I was always a fan of The Band, and particularly fond of the soulful vocal talents of their drummer Levon Helm. In truth, he was far more than a drummer and, like many on tonight’s list, was really a multi-instrumentalist who also happened to play the drums.

I’m particularly fond of his 2007 album Dirt Farmer (which earned him a Grammy Award), his 2009 follow-up, Electric Dirt (which also landed him a Grammy Award) and his live album Ramble at the Ryman, which, you guessed it, also landed him a Grammy Award. It was a tremendous late career resurgence, which sadly came to an end when he left us in 2012.

We simply have to mention Don Henley: the drummer and founding member of the Eagles, and its sole continuous member. Henley sang the lead vocals on an impressive list of Eagles songs including Desperado, Best of My Love, One of These Nights, Hotel California, Life in the Fast Lane and my absolute favourite Henley vocal, Long Road Out Of Eden.

The Eagles have sold over 150 million albums worldwide, won six Grammy Awards, had five number one singles, 17 top 40 singles, six number one albums, have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, are the highest selling American band in history and, as a solo artist, Henley has sold over 10 million albums worldwide, has landed eight top 40 singles, and won two Grammy Awards. Not a bad effort at all.

And to wrap things up for tonight… Just when you thought it was safe to come out from behind the sofa… Fess up – you knew it was going to happen; and secretly, you know you want it really…

Please welcome the world’s greatest diamond geezer; the man, the myth, the maestro. There can be only one. Ladies and Gentlebodies, please welcome the musical legend that is, is, IS

MR PHIL COLLINS!!! YAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!

Anyway, I think that’s probably quite enough tub thumping for one evening. So that’s yer lot for this week’s Fabulously Flamboyant Friday. May all your pillows be tasty, your gardens inclined and your puddles well jumped.

Goodnight, and may your frog go with you – Not ‘arf!

Featured Image: http://www.cgpgrey.com, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
 

© Ivory Cutlery 2025