Eddie Drennon (born Edward Allen Drennen, 1940) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and arranger. His range of musical genres has included R&B, pop,

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

, Latin music,

salsa Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: A ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

, and charanga. He is best known for his transatlantic

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

, "Let's Do The Latin Hustle", recorded in 1975 with his then backing group, B.B.S. Unlimited. The track was written, produced and arranged by Drennon. Other works of that period, including "Do What You Gotta Do", have been sampled by more contemporary musicians such as

Grandmaster Flash Joseph Saddler (born January 1, 1958), popularly known by his stage name Grandmaster Flash, is an American DJ and rapper. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of Hip Hop DJing, cutting, scratching and mixing. Grandmaster Flash and the Fur ...

, The Avalanches, Biz Markie, and

Shaggy Shaggy may refer to: People *Shaggy (musician) (born 1968), Jamaican American reggae rapper and singer *Shaggy 2 Dope, half of the hip hop, horrorcore band Insane Clown Posse *Shaggy Flores (born 1973), Nuyorican poet, writer and African diaspora ...

Life and career

Drennon was born in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Mark Fax Mark Oakland Fax (15 June 1911 – 2 January 1974) was an American composer and a professor of music. Child prodigy Born on June 15, 1911, in Baltimore, Maryland, Fax was a child prodigy. By age fourteen, Fax was employed as a theater organist p ...

at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Initially a working musician in Washington, he was encouraged by bandleader

Lou Perez Lou Perez is an American professional wrestler who has competed in North American promotions including the National Wrestling Alliance and World Championship Wrestling during the late 1980s and early 1990s as well as the Puerto Rican-based promo ...

to move to New York City in the mid-1960s, and worked with Pupi Legarreta, Super Tipica De Estrellas, Tipica Ideal and Charanga America. Eddie Drennon biography at DiscoMuseum.net
. Retrieved February 6, 2013. He became Bo Diddley's music director in 1966, playing as his electric violinist until 1967. He performed on one track on Bo Diddley's, '' His Best'' album. Drennon also operated as a sideman for Mongo Santamaría,

Ray Barretto Raymundo "Ray" Barretto Pagán (April 29, 1929 – February 17, 2006) was an American percussionist and bandleader of Puerto Rican descent. Throughout his career as a percussionist, he played a wide variety of Latin music styles, as well as Lati ...

and Ike & Tina Turner. In 1975, he met and started working with record producer Joe Bana, who owned Friends & Co. Records. Drennon's fusion of

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and

brought his major hit, "Let's Do The Latin Hustle", which was also the first hit for the label. The track entered the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' R&B

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

, peaking at number 36. It also reached number 4 on the

Hot Dance Club Songs Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

chart. It rose to number 20 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in March 1976. A

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of the track by the M and O Band reached number 16 in the UK chart, slightly out performing the original. With his backing ensemble B.B.S. Unlimited, Drennon recorded three albums between 1975 and 1979 for Casablanca Records.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

noted that ''"Drennon's second Casablanca album 'It Don't Mean a Thing''uses the same formula as the first that spawned his biggest hit "Latin Hustle": Latinish pop rhythms topped by female vocals and accented with strings. The title track is a hustle gem, truly worthy."'' Drennon continued to work as a violinist on recording sessions in New York. He also composed, arranged and produced for

Esther Williams Esther Jane Williams (August 8, 1921 – June 6, 2013) was an American competitive swimmer and actress. She set regional and national records in her late teens on the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team. Unable to compete in the 1940 Summer Ol ...

("Last Night Changed It All"). In 1981 and 1982, he produced the New York based

and charanga band, Orquesta Novel. In 1983, he released ''Eddie Drennon and Charanga Soul''. Drennon scored a scene for the film, ''

In the Line of Fire ''In the Line of Fire'' is a 1993 American political action thriller film directed by Wolfgang Petersen and starring Clint Eastwood, John Malkovich and Rene Russo. Written by Jeff Maguire, the film is about a disillusioned and obsessed former ...

'' (1993), and composed the music for the 1997

Helen Hayes Helen Hayes MacArthur ( Brown; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress whose career spanned 80 years. She eventually received the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and was the second person and first woman to have w ...

based musical, ''Torn from the Headlines''. His string quartet played on

Soldiers of Jah Army A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

's ''

Get Wiser ''Get Wiser'' is the second full-length studio album by the reggae band SOJA that was released in January 2006. The album release party was held at The State Theatre in Falls Church, Virginia and was filmed for the ''Get Wiser Live DVD''. Trac ...

'' and the ''

Get Wiser Live DVD ''Get Wiser Live'' is a DVD recorded on January 6, 2006 by reggae band SOJA at the State Theatre in Falls Church, Virginia. The show consisted of two separate sets, with the opening set being older songs, and the second set being Get Wiser in ...

'' (2006); and the 2009 ''

Born in Babylon ''Born in Babylon'' is the third full-length studio album by reggae band SOJA. It was released August 25, 2009 exclusively on iTunes, through DMV Records. Physical copies can also be bought at concerts where the band uses a "Pay What You Want" p ...

'' album. In the 1980s and 1990s, Drennon worked as a teacher at

Fairleigh Dickinson University Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private university with its main campuses in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Founded in 1942, Fairleigh Dickinson University currently offers more than 100 degree programs to its students. In addition to its tw ...

and Howard University, as well as acting as music director at the Everyday Theater in Washington, D.C. He currently plays with the Umoja String Quartet, and serves on the faculty at the

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

and

Levine School of Music Levine Music is a non-profit community music center serving the Greater Washington DC metropolitan area. Levine currently operates four campuses, in Northwest DC, Southeast DC, Strathmore MD, and Arlington VA. Levine welcomes students of all age ...

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drennon, Eddie 1940 births Living people African-American record producers American disco musicians American funk musicians American jazz violinists American male violinists American music arrangers American rhythm and blues musicians Musicians from Newark, New Jersey Record producers from New Jersey Songwriters from New Jersey 21st-century American violinists 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Howard University alumni 21st-century African-American musicians 20th-century African-American people American male songwriters