DJ Fontana: Drummer On All The Elvis Presley Hits

DJ Fontana caught his big break playing with Elvis at the birth of rock and roll music in Memphis, TN.

One of the best examples I can possibly think of applying the money beat is DJ Fontana, drummer for Elvis on all those early great hit songs. Fontana played with Elvis for a long time and was right alongside him during the birth of rock and roll music in Memphis, TN. And when you listen to what Fontana was playing, it wasn’t anything overly complicated; it just fit each song perfectly. So I collected a few videos with some of Elvis’ greatest hits and the drummer who played on them. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find a whole lot more from DJ that would have worked in this post, so I encourage you to keep on searching if you want to learn more from DJ, his experience with Elvis, and his drumming style. Enjoy!

Here’s some footage from a live show featuring Elvis and the guys. There’s no footage of DJ, but you sure can hear his part on the famous “Jailhouse Rock” at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpCU7YeTikc.

Here’s the classic quartet with some more great music and photos at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWz8ySW26nA.

I hope you enjoyed hearing from DJ Fontana and all his classic drum beats. There’s more coming your way at Play Drums By Ear, so stay tuned.

Thanks,

Chris