STUBBLEFIELD GETS 'FUNKY' WITH YAMAHA DRUMS

BUENA PARK, CA (November 15, 2002)—Growing up in Chattanooga, TN, Clyde Stubblefield began his musical path by playing on tin cans and cardboard boxes. Since then, the R&B beatmaster has played all over the world and recorded with some of the greatest funk, soul and R&B performers including James Brown, Otis Redding, and Clayton Fillyau, and currently performs on the Yamaha Birch Custom Absolute drum kit.

Clyde Stubblefield Gets Funky

Clyde was 22 when he joined Brown's band, a six-year engagement that would see him laying down the beat for many of the Godfather of Soul's biggest hits of the 1960's, including "Say It Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud)," "I Got The Feelin,'" "Sex Machine" and "Cold Sweat." It was "Funky Drummer" that earned the 59-year old Stubblefield the unofficial title of "World's Most Sampled Drummer." The 18-second stretch of the tune has been appropriated (mostly without credit or compensation) as a common riff for countless R&B, funk and rap beats—a riff that never impressed Stubblefield.

In addition to appearing on the covers of Modern Drummer and Stick It magazines, Stubblefield was named Rolling Stone's "Drummer of the Year" in 1990, and was a Wisconsin Area Music Industry (WAMI) 2000 Hall of Fame Inductee. His drum sticks appear in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio as part of the famous Peter Lavinger collection.

Presently, Clyde is still busy playing, recording, leading drum clinics and tours with Michael Feldman's Public Radio Show, the Whad'Ya Know Show. Stubblefield still plays with the funky, reconstituted J.B.s, whose latest album is titled Bring The Funk On Down.

For more information, write Yamaha Corporation of America, Pro Audio & Combo Division, Drum Products, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622; telephone (714) 522-9011; e-mail infostation@yamaha.com; or visit www.yamaha.com/drum.htm.