Louie Adrian Weaver III (born July 13, 1951) is a

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

most famous for being the long-time drummer of

Christian rock Christian rock is a form of rock music that features lyrics focusing on matters of Christian faith, often with an emphasis on Jesus, typically performed by self-proclaimed Christian individuals. The extent to which their lyrics are explicitly Ch ...

band

Petra Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean Aramaic, Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to t ...

. Weaver was dismissed from the band in 2003. He is currently working on several projects. In 2010, Weaver reunited with former members of Petra (

Greg X. Volz Gregory Xavier Volz (born January 12, 1950) is a Christian rock singer. He is most noted for being the lead singer of Petra from 1979 to 1985. He has continued to sing, sporadically, for different iterations of Petra such as Classic Petra (201 ...

Bob Hartman Robert "Bob" Hartman (born December 26, 1949) is a Christian artist, guitarist, writer and songwriter. He is the founder of Christian rock band Petra. Hartman was involved with the band from its foundation in 1972 to its end in 2005. He took ...

John Lawry John Lawry (born June 15, 1950) is a Christian rock musician, composer, producer, and songwriter. He was the keyboardist of Petra from 1984 to 1994. After his departure, Lawry dedicated himself to producing and record engineering. From 2010 to 201 ...

and Mark Kelly) to form Classic Petra. Starting in 2017, Weaver played in the CPR Band and recorded an album with them.

Biography

Weaver was born in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

, where he attended high school at Glencliff High School. He was part of a school jazz band playing at the

Nashville Municipal Auditorium The Nashville Municipal Auditorium is an indoor sports and concert venue in Nashville, Tennessee. It opened October 7, 1962 with both an arena and exhibition hall. The former exhibition hall has been permanent home to the Musicians Hall of Fame ...

. In 1969 he graduated and continued to study in

Trevecca Nazarene College Trevecca Nazarene University (TNU) is a private Nazarene liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1901. History TNU was founded in 1901 by Cumberland Presbyterian minister J. O. McClurkan as the "Pentecostal Literary an ...

. There he obtained a B.A. in percussion. After graduating he went on to work with several artists. He was a session player for

Randy Matthews Randy Matthews (born 1950) is an American Christian singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pioneer of Jesus music. He was born into a family with at least five ordained ministers, including his father, Monty, a founding member of the Jordanaires. Wh ...

and Fireworks, also touring with Matthews and Crossfire. He also played with

Parable A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, w ...

, Good Grief, and Chuck McCleod's Band. In 1981 he joined

becoming a staple of the band with his trademark drumming and style. After 22 years, he was fired in 2003 amidst some controversy. Both Petra and Weaver have since dismissed the incident and little has been discussed of the issue since. He was replaced by

Paul Simmons Paul Simmons may refer to: *Paul Allen Simmons (1921–2014), U.S. federal judge *Paul Simmons (drummer), American drummer (Th' Legendary Shack Shakers, The Reverend Horton Heat, Petra) *Paul Simmons (football coach) Paul Simmons is an American ...

. In 2005 he collaborated with Project Damage Control with

John Schlitt John William Schlitt (born February 3, 1950) is an American singer, who was the lead singer of Christian rock band Petra (band), Petra from 1986 until the band's retirement in early 2006. Prior to joining Petra in 1986, Schlitt was the lead voc ...

on vocals. Weaver performed briefly with a band called Viktor with other well-known veteran musicians. Weaver played with Classic Petra from 2010 to 2012, which was a re-united version of the band featuring some of the members from the 80's:

and

Mark Kelly Mark Edward Kelly (born February 21, 1964) is an American politician, former astronaut, and United States Navy captain who has served as the junior United States senator from Arizona since 2020. A member of the Democratic Party, he was electe ...

. This instance of the band recorded ''

Back to the Rock The human back, also called the dorsum, is the large posterior area of the human body, rising from the top of the buttocks to the back of the neck. It is the surface of the body opposite from the chest and the abdomen. The vertebral column ru ...

'' in 2010, which was Weaver's first studio album with the Classic Petra lineup since '' Beat the System'' in 1984. Weaver was voted "Favorite Drummer" by

CCM Magazine ''CCM Magazine'' is a twice-monthly online magazine focusing on contemporary Christian music, published by Salem Publishing, a division of Salem Communications. History ''CCM'' was first published in July 1978, as a printed magazine. It has bee ...

's readers choice for five years in a row (1989-93.) Weaver endorses

Paiste Paiste (English pronunciation: , ) is a Swiss musical instrument manufacturing company. It is the world's third largest manufacturer of cymbals, gongs, and metal percussion. is an Estonian word that means "shine". Apart from cymbals and gong ...

Cymbals, Vater Sticks, DW Drums, and

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, drumheads, drums, and hardware. History Drummer and founder Re ...

drumheads.

Personal life

Weaver is married to his wife Penny. Weaver is a fan of

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...

, using his imagery on his clothes, drums, etc. He even named his daughter after the famous mouse.

Discography

with Petra

other projects

References

External links

Louie Weaver DrumsViktor Band Website
1951 births Living people Petra (band) members People from Nashville, Tennessee Trevecca Nazarene University alumni 20th-century American drummers American male drummers 20th-century American male musicians {{US-drummer-stub