James Stanley McCarty (born 25 July 1943) is an English musician, best known as the drummer forthe Yardbirds andRenaissance.[1] McCarty has performed and recorded as a drummer and occasional singer with theYardbirds, Together,Renaissance, Shoot,[2]Illusion,Box of Frogs, the British Invasion All-Stars, and Pilgrim. He was also a keyboardist forStairway and, under his own name, a guitarist in the Jim McCarty Band.[3][4][5][6]
Since 1992 he has been playing with the reformed Yardbirds.[5] FollowingChris Dreja's departure from the Yardbirds in 2013, McCarty became the only founding member to still tour in the band.[7] He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 as a member of the Yardbirds.[8] McCarty has released three solo albums :Out of the Dark (1994),Sitting on the Top of Time (2009), andWalking in the Wild Land (2018) as well as two books.[9][10][6]
McCarty has contributed to four Yardbird books:Yardbirds (1983.ISBN0-283-98982-3) / Yardbirds : The Ultimate Rave-Up (1997.ISBN0-9648157-8-8) / The Yardbirds (2002.ISBN0-87930-724-2) / Nobody Told Me: My Life with the Yardbirds, Renaissance and Other Stories (2018.ISBN0244966508).[5][9]
When playing with the early Yardbirds, he worked as a clerk for the stockbroking firmPhillips & Drew in theCity of London.[12][13][14] McCarty admitted that addiction to LSD in the 1960s negatively affected his mental health.[5] McCarty's wife, Elisabeth, died from cancer on 7 June 2020,[15] which got McCarty interested inMediumship.[16][17] McCarty released a book,She Walks In Beauty, which his wife suggested him to do just before her death.[18][19][17]
