Dominic Joseph "D.J." Fontana, the original and longtime drummer for Elvis Presley going clear back to the 1954 Sun Sessions, has died at the age of 87. According to his wife, he had health problems especially since breaking his hip in 2016.
He was the last of the musicians in the so-called "sit down" sessions recorded for the 1968 Singer Presents Elvis, also called Presley's "comeback special." Charlie Hodge died in 2006, Alan Fortas died in 1992, Scotty Moore in 2016, and of course Elvis in 1977, unless you believe he faked his death.
Fontana was an important figure in the early years of rock music.
Snip from the article:
Fontana rose from strip joints in his native Shreveport, Louisiana to the heights of musical history as Presley's first and longtime drummer.
They met on the Louisiana Hayride, a popular and influential radio and TV country music program based in Shreveport. Fontana, the staff drummer, asked to join his group for a session broadcast in October 1954.
A regional act at the time, the 19-year-old Presley had been recording and touring since the summer with guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, the musicians Sun Records founder Sam Phillips brought in after Elvis turned up at the Memphis, Tennessee-based label's studio.
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