Clyde Stubblefield, James Brown’s “Funky Drummer”, dies aged 73

Clyde Stubblefield, the drummer for James Brown whose solo on “Funky Drummer” became a cornerstone of hip hop sampling, aged 73. Rolling Stone reports that he died of kidney failure.

Stubblefield performed on Brown tracks including “Ain’t It Funky Now”, “I Got the Feelin'” and Brown’s landmark albums Cold Sweat and Sex Machine.

His drum break on the 1970 song, “Funky Drummer“, has been sampled by Public Enemy (“Fight the Power”), N.W.A. (“Fuck tha Police”), LL Cool J (“Mama Said Knock You Out”), Dr. Dre (“Let Me Ride”) and many other artists.

We lost another Pillar Stone that held up the Foundation of Funk. Mr.Clyde Stubblefield has left our frequency. I… https://t.co/JV2JVfRJkn

— Bootsy Collins (@Bootsy_Collins) February 18, 2017

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The Funky Funkiest Drummer Of All Time. Clyde Stubblefield thank you for everything you've taught me. The spirit of the greatest grace note left hand snare drummer will live on thru all of us. #RIP.

A post shared by Questlove Froman, (@questlove) on Feb 18, 2017 at 11:11am PST

R.I.P. to the 'funky drummer' – Clyde Stubblefield – from the entire PE family. pic.twitter.com/5eTF8DvM0v

— PUBLIC ENEMY (@PublicEnemyFTP) February 19, 2017

he gave the drummer more than some…. Thank you for the breaks Clyde Stubblefield RIP https://t.co/WpfOdXqbTJ

— Gilles Peterson (@gillespeterson) February 18, 2017

RIP #ClydeStubblefield #FunkyDrummer https://t.co/xfeyQ05kfd

— Living Colour (@LivingColour) February 18, 2017

The April 2017 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – featuring our cover story on Björk. Elsewhere in the issue, there’s interviews with Deep Purple, Chrissie Hynde, The Magnetic Fields and we look inside legendary LA venue The Troubadour, while our free CD collects great new tracks from Grandaddy, Laura Marling, Real Estate, Hurray For The Riff Raff and more. The issue also features Alison Krauss on her best recorded work. Plus John Mayall, Jaki Liebezeit RP, Procul Harum, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Creation, Buena Vista Social Club, Elliott Smith, George Harrison, The Jesus And Mary Chain, Sleaford Mods and more, plus 131 reviews