Posted on 06/14/2018 12:46:31 PM PDT by lowbridge
D.J. Fontana, a rock 'n' roll pioneer who rose from strip joints in his native Shreveport, Louisiana, to the heights of musical history as Elvis Presley's first and longtime drummer, has died at 87, his wife said Thursday.
Karen Fontana told The Associated Press that her husband died in his sleep in Nashville on Wednesday night. She said he'd been suffering complications from breaking his hip in 2016.
"He was loved by everybody all over the world. He treated everybody like everybody was his friend," she said.
Presley's former wife, Priscilla Presley, issued a statement calling Fontana "a tremendously talented musician and a wonderful man."
Fontana, a member of the Rock Hall of Fame, was the last surviving member of Elvis' original core of musicians. He met Presley and the others on the Louisiana Hayride, a popular and influential radio and TV country music program based in Shreveport. Staff drummer Fontana asked to join his group for a session broadcast in October 1954.
A regional act at the time, the 19-year-old Presley had been recording and touring since the summer with guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, the musicians Sun Records founder Sam Phillips brought in after Elvis turned up at the Memphis, Tennessee-based label's studio.
(Excerpt) Read more at wmcactionnews5.com ...
“Presley’s former wife, Priscilla Presley, issued a statement calling Fontana “a tremendously talented musician and a wonderful man.””
Sounds like Priscilla is all shook-up.
In memory of DJ Montana, I’LL throw on a Dread Zepplin record. Thank you very much.
Wow, he was kick butt drummer too. RIP. Elvis was never as good as when he was with those original guys at the start, DJ, Bill Black and Scotty Moore. Well DJ came a little later but those early live recordings, his voice was absolutely unbelievable, like a freight train. And then the illegal alien came along and ruined everything, broke up the group and turned Elvis into his own personal ATM machine. I read once Scotty said if you put all the times he played with Elvis, the live shows, the recordings and added up all the money he was paid, he said the total probably wouldn’t add up to more than $5000 thanks to the illegal alien Andreas van Kuijk. That’s Elvis fault as well, he could have spoke up and demanded they get paid more but I guess he was just a naive kid like they all were. Elvis didn’t even need a manager, by the time the illegal alien discovered him he was already popular. His own father could have managed him, he was a hot commodity and it was just a matter of making deals on money.
Sad ping , my friend. Hope you are well.
He was 4 years older than Elvis and he outlived Elvis by more than 40 years. I bet that DJ did not eat peanut butter and banana sandwiches like Elvis did.
Hitler,Stalin,col.Parker!
“I bet that DJ did not eat peanut butter and banana sandwiches like Elvis did.”
LOL
Those early Sun Sessions are still the blueprint.
Elvis did have a kick-ass band, and he owed a lot of his success to them.
“Elvis: The Sun Sessions” is an essential part of any rock and roll record collection. With all due respect to Ike Turner and some of the early rockers recorded by Sam Phillips, Elvis in the Sun studios is the rock equivalent of cold fusion, the moment everything came together and everything changed forever.
It’s ironic, because Scotty Moore and Bill Black weren’t initially impressed by Elvis and neither was Sam Phillips. Sam was about ready to call it quits—for good—when Elvis began riffing on “That’s All Right Mama;” Moore and Black joined in, and Phillips knew he had stumbled across something completely unique and original in the music world.
Your comments about the illegal alien are spot-on. The money offered by European promoters for concert tours on the continent were jaw-dropping for that era, and there’s no doubt Elvis would have drawn huge crowds. But the illegal alien was afraid his unlawful entry would be discovered when he applied for a passport, so Elvis missed out on millions in potential European earnings.
That’s a link to a TIAA comercial.
The purists, like Mark Gold, fail to take into account that Elvis had an extraordinary voice.
Thanks.
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