Bernard Pershey (born in

Joliet, Illinois Joliet ( ) is a city in Will County, Illinois, Will and Kendall County, Illinois, Kendall counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the cit ...

) is an American drummer and record producer.

Biography

Pershey began playing drums at the age of 8. In his early years he was part of many

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

and

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

bands such as

Trilogy A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part wor ...

, White Lightning, This Oneness, Brainiac and

Madame X ''Madame X'' (original title ''La Femme X'') is a 1908 play by French playwright Alexandre Bisson (1848–1912). It was novelized in English and adapted for the American stage; it was also adapted for the screen twelve times over sixty-five ...

. During the 70s and 80s he was a session drummer for acts like

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included 15 top-ten singles, including 5 number-one singles on the ...

, Henry Gaffney,

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...

, Michael Thompson,

Jennifer Batten Jennifer Batten (born November 29, 1957) is an American guitarist who has worked as a session musician and solo artist. From 1987 to 1997 she played on all three of Michael Jackson's world tours, and from 1999 to 2001 she toured and recorded wit ...

, Glenn Meganck,

Dwight Twilley Dwight Twilley (born June 6, 1951) is an American pop/rock singer and songwriter, best known for the Top 20 hit singles "I'm on Fire (Dwight Twilley Band song), I'm on Fire" (1975) and "Girls" (1984). His music is associated with the power pop st ...

, Pat Vidas Flight and many more. In 1988 he joined

Edgar Winter Edgar Holland Winter (born December 28, 1946) is an American musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist, playing keyboards, guitar, saxophone, and percussion, as well as singing. His success peaked in the 1970s with his band the Edgar Winter Group ...

for 2 years. His drumming on the song Frankenstein" is featured in the

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer o ...

biopic ''

What's Love Got to Do with It What's Love Got to Do with It may refer to: *Tina Turner: ** "What's Love Got to Do with It" (song), a 1984 song by Tina Turner ** ''What's Love Got to Do with It'' (1993 film), a biographical film about Tina Turner ** ''What's Love Got to Do with ...

''. In 1992 he joined blues

Walter Trout Walter Trout (born March 6, 1951 in Ocean City, New Jersey, United States) is an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. Biography Trout's career began on the Jersey coast scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He then decided to rel ...

's band for worldwide tours and 9 albums, until he left in 2001 and joined

Eric Burdon Eric Victor Burdon (born 11 May 1941) is an English singer. He was previously the lead vocalist of R&B and rock band the Animals and funk band War. He is regarded as one of the British Invasion's most distinctive singers with his deep, powe ...

and replaced

Aynsley Dunbar Aynsley Thomas Dunbar (born 10 January 1946) is an English drummer. He has worked with John Mayall, Frank Zappa, Jeff Beck, Journey, Jefferson Starship, Nils Lofgren, Eric Burdon, Shuggie Otis, Ian Hunter, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Mick R ...

. From 2001–2005 he was a touring member of Burdon, incl. Dean Restum,

Dave Meros Dave Meros (born 8 February 1956), is an American bass guitar player, best known as the bass player for progressive rock band Spock's Beard. Meros has also played or recorded with such artists as Gary Myrick, Bobby Kimball of Toto, Simon Phil ...

(of

Spock's Beard Spock's Beard is an American progressive rock band formed in Los Angeles. The band was formed in 1992 by brothers Neal (lead vocals, keyboards) and Alan Morse (vocals, guitars), John Ballard (bass) and Nick D'Virgilio (drums). Ballard was rep ...

) and his old friend

Martin Gerschwitz Martin Gerschwitz (born 25 June 1952) is a German violinist, keyboardist, singer and composer. Life and career He was born and raised in Solingen, Germany. He began playing piano at the age of five, at the age of twelve he devoted himself exclu ...

(who was also in Trout's band). From 2002 to 2005 he was also a member of

Beth Hart Beth Hart (born January 24, 1972) is an American musician from Los Angeles, California. She rose to fame with the release of her 1999 single " LA Song (Out of This Town)" from her second album ''Screamin' for My Supper''. The single was a number ...

, which he left to play exclusive for Burdon, before Burdon parted ways with his band members soon after to form a new band. Pershey played of Hart's ''Leave The Light On''. From 2008 to 2010 he performed with the blues musician

Eric Sardinas Eric Sardinas (born November 10, 1970) is an American blues-rock slide guitarist born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He is noted for his use of the electric resonator guitar and his live performances. He sometimes sets his guitar alight on stag ...

and his band Eric Sardinas and Big Motor. The Eric Sardinas band is a three piece power blues outfit, with Sardinas on guitar, Levell Price on bass, and Pershey on drums. This line up had toured in support of the band's latest CD ''Eric Sardinas and Big Motor''. From 2010 to 2013 he worked live with jazz guitarist Bob Summers, and with Martin Gerschwitz and Friends, Keston and The Rhythm Killers, and others. In 2016 he recorded with singer Billy Trudel. Also in 2016 he recorded drums for the album "The Streets Cry Freedom" by Eddie St. James, which has been re-released on the Rivet/Sony-Orchard label. In 2017, he recorded drums for The Surf Dawgs, with Zip Caplan, on the record 'Beyond The Horizon", on Big Wave Records. He also played drums on a Recording for Seth Phillips, produced by Tim Andersen. In 2020 and 2021, he did live performances with Iron Butterfly, and Uncle Zeek, although the schedule was curtailed by the Covid pandemic. Pershey has produced music for the Chicago Producers Circle, and partnered Dean Restum at Mustang Brothers Productions, as well as recording drum tracks and client demos at the Bad Jack Studios in Arcadia, California, which he now owns.Bad Jack Studios
He also currently works with Cabin Fever, Keston and the Rhythm Killers, Bobby Gray, and others.
Bernie Pershey News

References

Press release: "Bernie Pershey leaves Walter Trout"

External links

*
Bernie live with Eric Sardinas/Germany
on YouTube
Live with Eric Burdon / TV-Festival- Sat1, Germany
on YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Pershey, Bernard American drummers Record producers from Illinois Living people Musicians from Joliet, Illinois Year of birth missing (living people)