There have been many discussions about guitars, dancing, singing, noses, hips and Larry Graham but aint we all forgetting one of the most important components...drums.

Over the past 3 decades, Prince has had a variety of drummers in his bands and line ups.

Bobby Z
Sheila E
Micheal Bland
Kirk A Johnson
John Blackwell
C.C Dunham

Who in your opinion ranks as the best drummer Prince has had?

My choice is Sheila E, although I did not really want to list her, as I think it is unfair on the others. If i was to leave her out, my shout would be for John Blackwell with Micheal Bland coming in a very close second.

Whitnail said:

I would have to say Sheila as well, since I don't know any other drummers. (*Sorry)

.
[Edited 12/19/12 17:43pm]

Michael Bland.

S H I E L A - E

yea and you kinda gotta post it in bold all caps too!


by far the best beats, love anything in which she plays!

Sheila's my fave Prince drummer.I just love those 2 2gether-like peanut butter and jelly.

violetblues said:[quote]S H I E L A - E

yea and you kinda gotta post it in bold all caps too!
[quote]

Yeah, but it's better if you spell her name right.

My master beats me on a daily basis.

S H E I L A - E

Done!

I actually prefer Prince's drumming in the studio. Sheila E was really exciting live.

Michael B is a fantastic drummer(especially when channeling Mitch Mitchell), I just never cared for his tenure in the NPG. Too ham-fisted.

John Blackwell... while better than your average hired-gun, succumbs too often to hair-metal-show-boatery.

Bobby Z could hit the hell out of those triggers.

Sheila

Shiela E.

Not bad, for a girl!!

Sheila E. and John Blackwell at a very close one and two. I haven't heard enough of Cora to judge.

Hey, can someone give me some songs with good examples of Prince's drumming? I need to start paying more attention to that. I wanna see how good he is.

sheila e!
i love the energy & emotion tht she puts in2 her performance. she pulls some great faces & she's much prettier thn the rest.
it's all about the drama!

Illustrator said:

1) Michael Bland
2) John B.
3) Sheila
4) Bobby
5) Kirky
6) Cora
7) the Lynn drummachine

Bobby Z. I wanna know if he's playing on records and how did he reproduce those drum-machine sounds on a real kit especially since Prince's beat on albums are very complex and have a lot of different sounds happening at once, as opposed to bass, snare, bass, snare/handclap.....

I've never seen a real live (recorded or otherwise) show with the Revolution
[Edited 1/8/08 3:13am]

Is "Master Beats" intended to sound like "masturbate"?

yup...you pretty much nailed it !

squirrelgrease said:

I alwayz love Sheila, However, All of Prince's band members have been great in my opinion.

Christaro said:

Cora definitely ranks up there with the Top 3 - perhaps you haven't seen/heard enough of her. At the O2 shows she was great, at the aftershows she was incredible (being allowed to let loose at lot more). Kirky and Bobby were ok, but nowhere near the skilss of the top 4 - NOWHERE! It is too difficult to call between Sheila, Michael and John as they are all very different in their styles. Sheila was a great all rounder, with fantastic energy and looked the business. Michael could slam it with a pop drive and rock out where necessary. John B is more about the funk/jazz element - he is probably technically better than the other 2, but seems to have a bit less scope for the more pop/rock material. But this is really nitpicking - they are fantastic drummers. Prince has always had an amazing rhythm section.

In answer to Volitan - BobbyZ used a combination of real drums and electronic pads, as have all of Prince's drummers. Even John B, who is predominantly a "real" kit player has an electronic trigger pad.

Someone else wanted some great Prince drum work - well, Crystal Ball immediately springs to mind. Great stuff! But also I'm Yours, Tambourine, Lady Cab Driver (although the last 2 are mainly just snare work) and, more recently, A Million Days.

If i have to answer this one, i say Sheila E.

Mindflux said:

I saw John Blackwell in 2005 in a small club in Vienna, he was touring with some experimental style band, cant remember the name. He was amazing on the drums that night, I met him briefly after the show, very nice down to earth guy. I asked him when Prince would tour europe again and he laughed and went

TIE 4 1st place John, Michael B and Sheila


everyone else gets the

Sheila
Just listen to Dance On

Sheila's the Bomb and she obviously works well with Prince. So she's #1



[Edited 1/8/08 21:16pm]

It's between Micheal Bland and John Blackwell.

I liked Bobby Z's drumming too.

Sheila wins hands down for me, followed by Michael B and then Bobby Z!!!

mentalist said:

Cora & Kirk are the worse