John Blackwell Jr. (September 9, 1973 – July 4, 2017) was an American contemporary R&B, funk, jazz, fusion, and pop drummer, best known for his work with
Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...
. Later, he was a member of
D'Angelo's backing band, The Vanguard.
Career
Blackwell was born and raised in
Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is List of municipalities in South Carolina, the second-largest ...
, and started playing drums at age 3. He learned from his father, John Blackwell Sr., a drummer himself, who played with
Mary Wells
Mary Esther Wells (May 13, 1943 – July 26, 1992) was an American singer, who helped to define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s.
Along with The Supremes, The Miracles, The Temptations, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, and the F ...
,
King Curtis
Curtis Ousley (born Curtis Montgomery; February 7, 1934 – August 13, 1971), known professionally as King Curtis, was an American saxophonist who played rhythm and blues, jazz, and rock and roll. A bandleader, band member, and session musician ...
,
Joe Simon,
J.J. Jackson,
The Drifters
The Drifters are several American doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal groups. They were originally formed as a backing group for Clyde McPhatter, formerly the lead tenor of Billy Ward and his Dominoes in 1953. The second group of Drifters, formed in ...
,
The Spinners, and others.
Blackwell stated that he experienced
synesthesia since he was a child, seeing colors for
musical note
In music, a note is the representation of a musical sound.
Notes can represent the pitch and duration of a sound in musical notation. A note can also represent a pitch class.
Notes are the building blocks of much written music: discretizatio ...
s, and was identified as having
perfect pitch
Perfect commonly refers to:
* Perfection, completeness, excellence
* Perfect (grammar), a grammatical category in some languages
Perfect may also refer to:
Film
* ''Perfect'' (1985 film), a romantic drama
* ''Perfect'' (2018 film), a science ...
while in high school.
As a teenager, Blackwell played in both his high-school jazz and marching bands. He began playing in jazz clubs at age 13. At 17, he landed his first professional gig backing jazz singer and bandleader
Billy Eckstine. After high school, he attended
Berklee College of Music and worked steadily in local
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
jazz clubs. He left Berklee in 1995 to play with the funk band
Cameo, a gig which lasted for three years.
Blackwell moved to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
in 1998 to look for more drumming work, and got a job playing with
Patti LaBelle for three years. He appeared on her 1998 album ''
Live! One Night Only'', which won the
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...
for
Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance. Blackwell met
Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...
while performing with LaBelle in Minneapolis. Blackwell toured with Japanese singer
Hikaru Utada, and then joined Prince's band,
The New Power Generation
The New Power Generation, also known as The NPG, was the backing band of musician Prince from 1990 to 2013. They were replaced by 3rdeyegirl as his backing band in 2013. In 2015, the New Power Generation reunited as Prince's backing band for ...
, in September 2000.
Blackwell played with Prince on and off for 12 years, appearing on numerous releases, including the 2001 album, ''
The Rainbow Children
''The Rainbow Children'' is the twenty-fourth studio album by American recording artist Prince. It was released on November 20, 2001 by NPG Records and Redline Entertainment. It was also released through Prince's website earlier in the year. It ...
'', the 2003 ''
Live at the Aladdin Las Vegas'' DVD, the 2003 instrumental album, ''
N.E.W.S'', which was nominated for a
Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album, and 2004's ''
Musicology''. Blackwell performed with
Justin Timberlake on his
FutureSex/LoveShow
The FutureSex/LoveShow was the third concert tour by American singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake. It showcased his second studio album, ''FutureSex/LoveSounds'' (2006). The tour grossed $127.8 million. It was the third highest-grossing concert ...
tour. He has also played with
Crystal Kay
is a Japanese singer, songwriter, actress and radio host.
After releasing her first single, " Eternal Memories" (1999), Crystal Kay gained fame for her third studio album, '' Almost Seventeen'' (2002), which debuted at number 2 on the Japanese ...
,
P Diddy
Sean Combs (born Sean John Combs; November 4, 1969), also known by his stage names Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Puffy, or Diddy, is an American rapper, actor, record producer, and record executive. Born in New York City, he worked as a talent directo ...
and Charlie Singleton. Blackwell played at the 2008
Buddy Rich
Bernard "Buddy" Rich (September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987) was an American jazz drummer, songwriter, conductor, and bandleader. He is considered one of the most influential drummers of all time.
Rich was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, ...
Memorial Concert.
Blackwell played with
Maze, featuring
Frankie Beverly. He released his debut album in December 2009, titled ''The John Blackwell Project''. He has released two educational drumming DVDs: ''John Blackwell - Technique, Grooving and Showmanship'', and ''John Blackwell''. He joined the European leg of singer
D'Angelo's
The Second Coming Tour in 2015, as a member of his band, The Vanguard. He also toured as a member of bassist
William "Bootsy" Collins
William Earl "Bootsy" Collins (born October 26, 1951) is an American bass guitarist and singer.
Rising to prominence with James Brown in the early 1970s, and later with Parliament-Funkadelic, Collins established himself as one of the leading n ...
' Bootsy's Rubber Band that year.
He had endorsements from
Dixon Drums
Dixon Drums is a drum and drum hardware manufacturer based in Taipei, Taiwan, founded in 1979. They are distributed in the United States by St. Louis Music.
Grammy Awards winning drummer Gregg Bissonette
Gregg Bissonette (born June 9, 19 ...
,
Remo
Remo Inc. is an American musical instruments manufacturing company based in Valencia, California, and founded by Remo Belli in 1957. Products manufactured include drum kits, drumhead
A drumhead or drum skin is a membrane stretched ov ...
Drumheads,
Regal Tip
Regal Tip is one of the world's largest manufacturers of drum sticks and other percussion mallets. They produce a range of beaters, but are particularly noted as a manufacturer of premium steel brush (music), brushes and nylon tipped drumsticks. ...
Drumsticks, and Turkish Cymbals. Previously, he endorsed
Tama Drums
Tama Drums, (from Japanese: (Kanji), (Kana), read as ) is a brand of drum kits and hardware manufactured and marketed by the Japanese musical instrument company, Hoshino Gakki. Tama's research and development of products, along with produc ...
,
Yamaha Yamaha may refer to:
* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below).
** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...
Drums,
Evans Drumheads
D'Addario is a family-owned and operated American multinational company that specializes in musical instrument accessories headquartered in Farmingdale, Long Island, New York.
D’Addario is the world’s largest musical instrument accesso ...
,
Sabian Cymbals,
Zildjian
:''Zildjian leads here. For people with the surname, see Zildjian (disambiguation)''
The Avedis Zildjian Company, simply known as Zildjian (), is a musical instrument manufacturer specializing in cymbals and other percussion instruments. Founded ...
Cymbals and Drumsticks, and Vater Drumsticks.
Blackwell joined
Chinese musician Xu Wei's band for his tour named "At This Moment" in 2013. They performed in cities such as Beijing (May 17), Shanghai (July 13), Harbin (August 10), Hangzhou (August 24) and Shenzhen (September 7).
Death
In July 2016 Blackwell announced that he had lost the use of his left arm and leg due to a
brain tumor
A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seconda ...
.
[Prince Drummer John Blackwell Loses Use of Left Arm and Leg]
at Vintage Vinyl News; published June 2016; retrieved July 4, 2017 On July 4, 2017, his wife announced his death.
John Blackwell was 43.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackwell, John
1973 births
2017 deaths
Musicians from Columbia, South Carolina
Berklee College of Music alumni
African-American drummers
American funk drummers
American male drummers
American jazz drummers
Rhythm and blues drummers
Deaths from brain cancer in the United States
American male jazz musicians
20th-century American drummers
20th-century American male musicians
20th-century African-American musicians
21st-century African-American people