Greg Errico (born September 1, 1948) is an American musician and record producer, best known as the drummer for the popular and influential

psychedelic soul Psychedelic soul (originally called black rock or conflated with psychedelic funk) is a music genre that emerged in the late 1960s and saw Black soul musicians embrace elements of psychedelic rock, including its production techniques, instrument ...

/ funk band

Sly and the Family Stone Sly and the Family Stone was an American band from San Francisco. Active from 1966 to 1983, it was pivotal in the development of funk, soul, rock, and psychedelic music. Its core line-up was led by singer-songwriter, record producer, and multi ...

Background

Errico was born and grew up in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. He was a founding member and the original drummer, in December 1966, for Sly & The Family Stone, and in 1971 he became the first member to quit the group, citing the band's continuing turmoil. Errico toured with jazz-fusion group

Weather Report Weather Report was an American jazz fusion band active from 1970 to 1986. The band was founded in 1970 by Austrian virtuoso keyboardist Joe Zawinul, American saxophonist Wayne Shorter, Czech bassist Miroslav Vitouš, American drummer and voca ...

in 1973/74, but never made a studio recording with the group. His performances can be heard on live recordings hosted at the website Wolfgang's Vault. Joe Zawinul said that no one could play his tune "Boogie Woogie Waltz" better than Errico had. Errico joined the

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

band for his ''

Diamond Dogs ''Diamond Dogs'' is the eighth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 24 May 1974 through RCA Records. Bowie produced the album and recorded it in early 1974 at Olympic and Island Studios in London and Ludolph Studios i ...

'' 1974 tour of the US during September 1974. Errico later collaborated with bands such as

Santana Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer Boats * Santana 20, an American sailboat design by W. D. Sch ...

, on Carlos Santana and Buddy Miles Live, released June 7, 1972, and with the Grateful Dead. In 1974 he began drumming for the

Jerry Garcia Band The Jerry Garcia Band was a San Francisco Bay Area rock band led by Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. Garcia founded the band in 1975; it remained the most important of his various side projects until his death in 1995. The band regularly tour ...

on and off thru 1984. He also worked with Larry Graham (from Sly & The Family Stone) plus members of the

Tower of Power Tower of Power is an American R&B and funk based band and horn section, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing since 1968. There have been a number of lead vocalists, the best-known being Lenny Williams, who fronted th ...

horns,

Journey Journey or journeying may refer to: * Travel, the movement of people between distant geographical locations ** Day's journey, a measurement of distance ** Road trip, a long-distance journey on the road Animals * Journey (horse), a thoroughbred ra ...

and the Pointer Sisters on the first album for

Betty Davis Betty Davis (born Betty Gray Mabry; July 26, 1944 – February 9, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter, and model. She was known for her controversial sexually-oriented lyrics and performance style, and was the second wife of trumpeter Mile ...

; Errico produced and drummed. He also produced and drummed on the only album by Ike White (Changing Times). Errico still lives in the Bay Area, and continues to play and produce. One of his recent projects was producing the Jamie Davis

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

album. He also played at the

2006 Grammy Awards The 48th Annual Grammy Awards took place on February 8, 2006, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning from October 1, 2004 through September 30, 2005. Irish rock band U2 wer ...

, in the Sly & the Family Stone tribute, alongside most of his former bandmates. In recent years he has played drums for the reformed

Quicksilver Messenger Service Quicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1965 in San Francisco. The band achieved wide popularity in the San Francisco Bay Area and, through their recordings, with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe, ...

. As a member of Sly and the Family Stone, Errico played at

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aq ...

, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. He continued to tour, with

The Family Stone ''The Family Stone'' is a 2005 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Thomas Bezucha. Produced by Michael London and distributed by 20th Century Fox, it stars an ensemble cast, including Diane Keaton, Craig T. Nelson, Dermot Mulrone ...

, alongside fellow founding member of Sly and the Family Stone

Jerry Martini Gerald L. Martini (born October 1, 1942) is an American musician, best known for being the saxophonist for Sly and the Family Stone. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 as a member of Sly and the Family Stone. Early lif ...

(saxophone). This band also included former Sly and the Family Stone member

Cynthia Robinson Cynthia Robinson (January 12, 1944 – November 23, 2015) was an American musician, best known for being a founding member, the trumpeter and a vocalist in Sly and the Family Stone. Her voice and presence were featured in the hits "Dance to the ...

(trumpet) before she died in 2015. Over his career, Errico has played a variety of

drum sets A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

, including Slingerland, Ludwig and DW. He currently plays

DW drums Drum Workshop, Inc. (also known as DW Drums or DW) is an American drum kit and hardware manufacturing company based in Oxnard, California. Current products by DW include drum sets, snare drums, and hardware. History Drum Workshop was founde ...

and

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. Errico's intricate drumming, particularly with Sly & the Family Stone, has been sampled on hundreds of occasions by hip hop producers over the years. A 2014 scientific paper states that Errico is the musician with the highest degree and

Pagerank PageRank (PR) is an algorithm used by Google Search to rank webpages, web pages in their search engine results. It is named after both the term "web page" and co-founder Larry Page. PageRank is a way of measuring the importance of website pages. A ...

centralities, and the second highest

Eigenvector centrality In graph theory, eigenvector centrality (also called eigencentrality or prestige score) is a measure of the influence of a node in a network. Relative scores are assigned to all nodes in the network based on the concept that connections to high-sco ...

, of all musicians of all time.

Discography

Sly and the Family Stone (1968 publicity photo)

*'' A Whole New Thing'' –

(1967) *'' Dance to the Music'' – Sly and the Family Stone (1968) *''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

'' – Sly and the Family Stone (1968) *''

Stand! ''Stand!'' is the fourth album by soul/funk band Sly and the Family Stone, released on May 3, 1969. Written and produced by lead singer and multi-instrumentalist Sly Stone, ''Stand!'' is considered an artistic high-point of the band's career. ...

'' – Sly and the Family Stone (1969) *''

'' – various artists, (as Sly and the Family Stone) (1970) *''

There's a Riot Goin' On ''There's a Riot Goin' On'' (sometimes referred to as ''Riot'') is the fifth studio album by American funk and soul band Sly and the Family Stone. It was recorded from 1970 to 1971 at Record Plant Studios in Sausalito, California and released lat ...

'' – Sly and the Family Stone (1971) *'' Rolling Thunder'' – Mickey Hart (1972) *'' Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles! Live!'' – Carlos Santana and

Buddy Miles George Allen "Buddy" Miles Jr. (September 5, 1947February 26, 2008) was an American composer, drummer, guitarist, vocalist and producer. He was a founding member of the Electric Flag (1967), a member of Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys (1969–197 ...

(1972) *''

'' –

(1973) *'' Monkey Grip'' – Bill Wyman (1974) *'' Band Wagon'' –

Shigeru Suzuki is a Japanese musician, songwriter and guitarist. He first became known as a member of the influential rock band Happy End in the early 1970s, before starting a solo career and becoming a prolific session musician. As of 2006, Suzuki had contr ...

(1975) *''Changing Times'' - Ike White (1975) *''David Soul'' –

David Soul David Soul (born David Richard Solberg; August 28, 1943) is an American-British actor and singer. He is known for his role as Detective Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchinson in the television series ''Starsky & Hutch'' from 1975 to 1979; Joshua Bolt on ' ...

(1976) *''Lee Oskar'' –

Lee Oskar Lee Oskar (born 24 March 1948) is a Danish harmonica player, notable for his contributions to the sound of the rock-funk fusion group War, which was formed by Howard E. Scott and Harold Brown, his solo work, and as a harmonica manufacturer. H ...

(1976) *''Stone Alone'' – Bill Wyman (1976) *''Giants'' – Giants (1978) *''Before the Rain'' – Lee Oskar (1978) *''Say It with Silence'' –

Hubert Laws Hubert Laws (born November 10, 1939) is an American flutist and saxophonist with a career spanning over 40 years in jazz, classical, and other music genres. Laws is one of the few classical artists who has also mastered jazz, pop, and rhythm- ...

(1978) *''My Road, Our Road'' – Lee Oskar (1980) *'' The Apocalypse Now Sessions'' –

Rhythm Devils The Rhythm Devils is a band led by former Grateful Dead drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart. Grateful Dead The Rhythm Devils had their origins as an informal but frequent fixture in the Grateful Dead concert repertoire starting in the mid-t ...

(1980) *''Watchfire'' –

Pete Sears Peter Roy Sears (born 27 May 1948) is an English rock musician. In a career spanning more than six decades, he has been a member of many bands and has moved through a variety of musical genres, from early R&B, psychedelic improvisational rock o ...

(1988) *''Snakes & Stripes'' –

Harvey Mandel Harvey Mandel (born March 11, 1945) is an American guitarist best known as a member of Canned Heat. He also played with Charlie Musselwhite and John Mayall as well as maintaining a solo career. Early life Mandel was born in Detroit, Michigan, ...

(1995) *''

Seven 7 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 7 or seven may also refer to: * AD 7, the seventh year of the AD era * 7 BC, the seventh year before the AD era * The month of July Music Artists * Seven (Swiss singer) (born 1978), a Swiss recording artist ...

'' – Enuff Z'nuff (1997) *''Red Clay Harvest'' –

Cravin' Melon Cravin' Melon is a rock band based out of Clemson, South Carolina, United States. The band is composed of Doug Jones (lead vocals, guitar), Jimbo Chapman (lead guitar, vocals), Rob Clay (bass, vocals), Gary Greene (drums, vocals), Chad Barger (ke ...

(1998) *''

The Closing of Winterland ''The Closing of Winterland'' is a four-CD live album by the Grateful Dead. It contains the complete concert performed on December 31, 1978. The concert was also released as a two-disc DVD. The title derives from the fact that it was the last c ...

'' – Grateful Dead (2003) *'' Garcia Live Volume Five'' –

(2014) *''

Cracked Actor (Live Los Angeles '74) ''Cracked Actor (Live Los Angeles '74)'' is a live album by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was released posthumously as a Record Store Day release on 22 April 2017 through Parlophone record label. Produced by Bowie and mixed by Tony V ...

'' –

(2017)

References

External links

Greg Errico
on Unity Music {{DEFAULTSORT:Errico, Greg 1948 births American people of Italian descent American funk drummers American rock drummers American session musicians American soul musicians Drummers from San Francisco Living people Rhythm and blues drummers Sly and the Family Stone members Weather Report members 20th-century American drummers American male drummers Jerry Garcia Band members