Which session drummer has played on the most songs?
It’s difficult to gauge how to what degree winning copious session work under your belt is now easier or more difficult compared to back in the day of the label in-house musician. As bands now are overwhelmingly expected to handle the musicianship within their unit, will the likes of Motown‘s go-to drummer Benny Benjamin ever be seen again, totalling numerous credits across the Detroit music house’s many acclaimed records?
Perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise that, according to research by Drum Helper, the top three session drummers when measured by studio credits are all long gone, and saw their percussion heyday across the 1960s. Celebrated jazz drummer and child prodigy Buddy Rich comes in third with 2,000 plays to his name, famed for his short temper and coming to blows with Rat Pack leader Frank Sinatra.
Country band member Buddy Harman can claim a silver medal with 17,000 and can be heard behind the kits across cuts from Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Dolly Parton. Hailing from country music’s capital, Nashville, Harman is widely considered the genre’s pioneering percussionist with his verified 680 studio projects.
With around 2,000 albums and singles to his name but some claiming the number as high as 35,000, one drummer reigns as the undisputed session champion.
So, which session drummer has played on the most songs?
With his distinctive strutting beat that opens The Ronettes’ ‘Be My Baby‘, Hal Blaine’s unfussy drum work has formed the stuff of 1960s pop legend. Having played with Sam Cooke, Simon and Garfunkel, and The Beach Boys, Blaine’s drumming prowess was in serious demand across an eclectic scope of pop.
Born in 1929 in Massachusetts’ Holyoke, Blaine taught himself the drums at an early age, smacking parts of chairs along to his favourite radio hits as a small boy. Attending the theatre with his father every Sunday afforded him the chance to catch the likes of Gene Krupa and Benny Goodman during their pomp, spurring Blaine to try and stick his foot in the door. After steady work across the 1950s, his next project would prove his most enduring.
Part of Phil Spector’s Wrecking Crew ensemble of musicians, Blaine would end up appearing on 40 number-one singles with 150 drumming credits on top ten songs. Coining the session group’s name, Blaine recalled with confidence: “We played every genre of music… We’d play with the top jazz people in the world, like Gerry Mulligan or Chet Baker. There were no nerves in our bodies. Nobody was shaking in their boots. Our chops were perfect in those days. There was nothing we couldn’t do.”
As the 1980s arrived and drum machines became all the rage, Blaine found his drumming demand dwindling. Toward the end of his life, he assisted with a slew of commercial jingles before ultimately finding work as a security guard in Arizona. Upon news of his death, The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson summed up Blaine’s legacy succinctly: “Hal taught me a lot, and he had so much to do with our success — he was the greatest drummer ever.”
