Clyde Stubblefield | |
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 Stubblefield performing in 2005 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Clyde Austin Stubblefield (1943-04-18)April 18, 1943 Chattanooga, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | February 18, 2017(2017-02-18) (aged 73) Madison, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Instrument | Drums |
| Years active | c. 1960–2017 |
Clyde Austin Stubblefield (April 18, 1943 – February 18, 2017) was an American drummer best known for his work withJames Brown, with whom he recorded and toured for six years (1965-70). Hissyncopated drum patterns on Brown's recordings are consideredfunk standards. Samples of his drum performances (particularly hisbreak in the 1970 track "Funky Drummer") were heavily used inhip hop music beginning in the 1980s, although Stubblefield frequently received no credit.
A self-taught musician, Stubblefield was influenced by the sound ofindustrial rhythms he heard in factories and trains. He began playing with local groups in his nativeTennessee and later moved toGeorgia, where he played with musicians such asEddie Kirkland andOtis Redding in the early 1960s before joining Brown's band. He later settled inMadison, Wisconsin, where he was a staple of the local music scene. He has been named among the great drummers of all time by various publications. In 2017, he accepted an honorary degree from theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison.
Born to Frank D. and Vena Stubblefield on April 18, 1943, he grew up inChattanooga, Tennessee.[1][2] He was inspired to pursue drumming after seeing drummers for the first time in a parade.[3] As a youngster his sense of rhythm was influenced by the industrial sounds of factories and trains around him.[4][5] He practiced the rhythm patterns he heard, sometimes playing two patterns simultaneously.[6] Years later he said if he could hum a drum pattern, he could play it.[7] He played professionally as a teenager and performed in local bands such as Blue Shufflers, Inclines, and Cascades.[8][9] In the early 1960s he moved toMacon, Georgia, and worked with guitaristEddie Kirkland and toured withOtis Redding.[6][10]
In 1965,James Brown saw Stubblefield perform in Macon, Georgia, and asked him to audition. Soon after he joined Brown's band.[3][10] Over the next six years the band had two drummers, Stubblefield andJohn "Jabo" Starks who had joined the band two weeks earlier. Starks' style was influenced by the church music he grew up with inMobile, Alabama. The two drummers had no formal training.[5] According to Stubblefield, "We just played what we wanted to play (...) We just put down what we think it should be."[4] The two "created the grooves on many of Brown's biggest hits and laid the foundation for modern funk drumming in the process."[5]
Stubblefield's recordings with James Brown are considered to be some of the standard-bearers forfunk drumming, including the singles "Cold Sweat", "I Got the Feelin'", "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose", "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud", "Mother Popcorn", "Get Up, Get into It, Get Involved", "There Was a Time", "Ain't It Funky Now", and the albumSex Machine.[11][12]
His rhythm pattern on James Brown's "Funky Drummer" is among the world's most sampled musical segments. It has been used for decades byhip-hop groups and rappers such asPublic Enemy,Run-DMC,N.W.A,Raekwon,LL Cool J,Beastie Boys andPrince, and has also been used in other genres.[4][13] Though the sole creator of his patterns, Stubblefield was not credited for the use of the samples.[14][13] He was featured in the 2009PBS documentary,Copyright Criminals, which addressed the creative and legal aspects of sampling in the music industry.[12][15]
| External videos | |
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 Drum solo,Boston Garden 1968, "Cold Sweat" |
Stubblefield lived inMadison, Wisconsin, from 1971 onward.[16] For over twenty years he played Monday nights with his band, The Clyde Stubblefield Band, in downtown Madison. The band featured his longtime friend and keyboard-organ player Steve "Doc" Skaggs, along with soul vocalists Charlie Brooks and Karri Daley, as well as a horn section and supporting band. Stubblefield retired from the Monday shows in 2011 due to health issues, leaving the band in the hands of his nephew Bret Stubblefield.[17][18]
Stubblefield worked with a variety of musicians in the Madison area such as keyboardist Steve Skaggs, guitaristsLuther Allison and Cris Plata, jazz violinistRandy Sabien, rock bandGarbage, country trio Common Faces and jazz group NEO.[19][20][9] He performed and recorded with members ofThe J.B.'s includingBootsy Collins,Maceo Parker and "Jabo" Starks.[20][21] The group released the albumBring the Funk on Down in 1999.[22] From the early 1990s to 2015, he performed on the nationally syndicated public radio showWhad'Ya Know?[4][23]
Stubblefield's first solo albumThe Revenge of the Funky Drummer was released in 1997. The album was produced by producer-songwriterRichard Mazda.[24] In 1998, he released a 26 trackbreak-beat album titledThe Original Funky Drummer Breakbeat Album.[25] Stubblefield's third solo albumThe Original was released in 2003.[26] All compositions were based on Stubblefield's drum grooves and the album was produced byLeo Sidran.[8]
Stubblefield collaborated frequently with "Jabo" Starks. As theFunkmasters, the duo released an album in 2001 calledFind the Groove and an album in 2006 calledCome Get Summa This.[27][28] The duo also released a drumming instruction video in 1999 titledSoul of the Funky Drummers.[1][29] In December 2007, the duo joined Bootsy Collins in Covington, Kentucky, for the first tribute concert in memory of James Brown.[30] Stubblefield and Starks played onFunk for Your Ass, a tribute album by fellow James Brown orchestra alumFred Wesley. The album was released in 2008.[31] Later that year an expansion to theEZdrummer software was released with samples recorded by Stubblefield and Starks.[32]
In 2009, Stubblefield was in need of a kidney transplant and underwent dialysis treatments.[19] Musicians in the Madison area organized fundraiser events, donating the proceeds to supplement his dialysis treatment and subsequent medical bills.[6][33] Stubblefield coped with health issues from the early 2000s onward including cancer. His wife Jody Hannon was a source of support in managing his health.[4][19][34]
In 2011, Stubblefield performed "Fight the Power" on theJimmy Fallon show along withChuck D and members ofThe Roots andEclectic Method.[17][35] In 2012, he gave an autobiographical talk and performed his favorite beats at the Madison Ruby conference in Madison, Wisconsin.[36] In 2015, a scholarship fund for music education was started and named after Stubblefield.[37][38]
In 2014, Stubblefield was named the second best drummer of all time byLA Weekly. According to theLA Weekly, "Stubblefield is one of the most sampled drummers in history, the man whose uncanny ability to deconstruct pop music's simple 4/4 rhythms into a thousand different sly syncopations laid the foundation not only for funk, but for most of hip-hop, as well."[39] In 2013, Stubblefield and Starks received the Yamaha Legacy Award.[40][41] In 2004, he received the lifetime achievement award at the Madison Area Music Awards.[42] In 2000, he was inducted into theWisconsin Area Music Industry hall of fame.[43] In 1990 he was named drummer of the year byRolling Stone magazine, and in 2016 the magazine named Stubblefield and Starks the sixth best drummer of all time.[3][44] A set of Stubblefield's autographed drum-sticks are in theRock and Roll Hall of Fame.[3]
DrummerDavid Garibaldi credits Stubblefield for inventing the vocabulary of funk drumming. Garibaldi singles out the drumming on "I Got the Feelin'" as the "sign of a genius".[45][46] According toQuestlove, drummer ofThe Roots, Stubblefield is the one "who defined funk music."[4]Chuck D said of Stubblefield's impact on hip-hop, "It was a style of repetition that was emulated as opposed to just the actual sound. You know, holding it there, and keeping steady with the vamp."[47]Nerdcore rapperMC Frontalot paid tribute to Stubblefield in his song "Good Old Clyde".[48] Hip hop artistBlack Thought of The Roots rhymes "I'm cooler than Clyde Stubblefield, drummer for James" in the song "Stay Cool".[49]
Ben Sisario ofThe New York Times writes: "On songs like 'Cold Sweat' and 'Mother Popcorn' [Stubblefield] perfected a light-touch style filled with the off-kilter syncopations sometimes calledghost notes."[4] According toNational Public Radio, "the grooves [Stubblefield and Starks] created have inspired generations of artists — not just in funk, but in hip-hop, where their steady but intricate patterns make natural material for sampling."[5] In 2017, Stubblefield accepted an honorary doctorate of fine arts from theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison, which was conferred posthumously.[50]
Stubblefield died on February 18, 2017, from kidney failure.[51][52] He survived cancer in 2000 and coped with kidney disease since 2002.[16][4] In 2016, it was reported pop iconPrince, who deeply admired Stubblefield, paid about $80,000 of the drummer's medical costs.[16][13] Stubblefield was survived by his wife Jody Hannon.[52]
In a 1991 interview withIsthmus, Stubblefield said: "What influenced me mainly was sounds. Train tracks. Washing machines. I just put patterns against natural sounds, and that's what I do today. I could be walking down the street in time and put a drum pattern against it while I'm walking (...) That's the same thing I'm doing now when I sit down behind the drums. I put a pattern behind what everyone else is doing."[20]
Credits adapted fromAllMusic, except as noted.[53]
WithFred Wesley
WithJames Brownselected works
WithThe J.B.'s
WithBen Sidran
WithGarbage
If I think of something, like I might think of (...) if I can hum it, I can play it.
The language that we use he invented that. (David Garibaldi, time 21:39)
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