James Gadson is one of the most prolific studio
drummers in history, yet he started out as a tenor at the tender age of
fourteen with a vocal quartet assembled by Henry Jacobs in 1954.Eventually his younger brother
Thomas joined and they billed themselves as The Carpets.(Their first choice, The
Velvetones, was taken.)They
released their first record on the Federal label in February 1956.Both sides, "Why Do I"
and "Let Her Go", were penned by James.In spite of good reviews, The Carpets never took
off.James went solo for a
while and then joined the Air Force.He failed an audition for the Air Force band as a trumpeter and
eventually joined a singing group that entered a competition called Tops in
Blue.His group was riddled
with in-fighting, however, and lost out to the now-famous Del Vikings.In 1961, after his stint with the
USAF, he re-united with his brother in a re-incarnated version of The
Carpets.It turned out to be
the turning point in James' career.When bassist Harold Rice quit the band, Harry Wilkins vacated his
drum post to play bass, and James took his seat at drums.By his own admission, he wasn't
very good at first, and early in his career as a studio musician he gave
away his services for free.The Carpets changed their name to The Derbys and embarked on a tour
of the Southern U.S.James
joined The Midnighters for a year or so, followed by stints with Dyke &
The Blazers and Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band.By the early '70s, he was ready to
embark on a solo career and cracked the R&B Top 40 with "I Got To
Find My Baby".It was not
in the cards for James to set the world on fire as a solo act, however.James' destiny was to become one of
the most sought-after session musicians of his day.It all started with The Jackson
Five's "Dancing Machine".Motown liked him so much, he started getting regular work.Since then, he has worked with a
litany artists and groups, including Herb
Alpert , Anita Baker, Booker T. &
The MGs, James Brown, Ray Charles, Joe Cocker, Natalie Cole, Sam
Cooke, Paulinho
Da Costa
, Jackie DeShannon, Lamont Dozier, The Drifters,
George Duke, Yvonne Elliman, Euge Groove, Donald Fagen, Jose Feliciano, The
5th Dimension, The Four Tops, Aretha
Franklin, The Gap
Band, Marvin Gaye, Gloria Gayor, Herbie Hancock, Hues
Corporation, The Isley Brothers, Etta James, Rickie Lee Jones,
Quincy Jones, Tom Jones, B.B. King, Gladys Knight & The Pips,
Patti LaBelle, Ramsey Lewis, Little Richard, Melissa Manchester, Sir
Paul McCartney, Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis, Jr., The Mighty
Clouds of Joy, Aaron
Neville, The Osmonds, Peaches & Herb, Wilson Pickett, The
Pointer Sisters, Billy Preston, Lou Rawls, Otis Redding, Della
Reese, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, Minnie Riperton, Smokey
Robinson & The Miracles, Kenny
Rogers , Rose Royce, Diana
Ross & The Supremes, Patrice Rushen, Boz
Scaggs, Shotgun,
Simply Red, Frank
Sinatra, Phoebe Snow, The Spinners, Barbra Streisand, Donna
Summer, Syreeta,
Tavares, Teena Marie, The Temptations, Tina Turner, and Stevie
Wonder
.He has also produced works by
Thelma Houston, James
Ingram, Bill
Withers
("Lean on
Me"), Bobby Womack, and Yarbrough & Peoples.James recently appeared on Beck's
2006 release Information and
Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds
CD and teaches drums in his copious free time.
