DJ Fontana
Elvis Presley’s drummer who played on the star’s greatest hits, keeping time with his gyrations
DJ FONTANA, who has died aged 87, was Elvis Presley’s drummer on hundreds of songs from the first flourishing of the singer’s career in the mid-1950s until his final appearance supporting the King in the celebrated “comeback” television special of 1968.
In 1954 Fontana, who was known to Presley’s producer Sam Phillips, was the house drummer on the Louisiana Hayride, a country music radio and television show based in Fontana’s home town of Shreveport. The Hayride had launched country music stars such as Hank Williams, Slim Whitman and Jim Reeves.
Over that summer Presley had been touring with the backing only of two guitarists, Scotty Moore and Bill Black, and no drummer in traditional country fashion, the beat being provided by Elvis’s rhythm guitar, Black’s powerful bass and Moore’s thumb-picking.
Fontana, who was influenced by the big band sound of drummers such as Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa, joined the group for a session in 1954. It was said that he played behind a curtain initially, such was the audience’s disapproval of drums. Early the next year he became a regular component of Presley’s band.
Fontana’s simple, fast technique, a fusion of big band and rockabilly influences, was much admired later by Ringo Starr and others, and his “machine-gun” pummelling of the snare drum on the recording of Hound Dog is considered a key development in the rock-and-roll sound.
On stage, he was adept at keeping time with Elvis’s gyrations. As Ronnie Tutt, who took over from him in the 1970s, put it, drumming for Elvis “was like playing for a glorified stripper; with all the moves he made, you had to play according to what he was doing.”
By the summer of 1956, the singer was driving audiences into hysteria. On one occasion in Kansas City, fans invaded the stage: Fontana’s drum kit was smashed and he was thrown into the orchestra pit, lucky to escape without injury.
As one of the King’s “sidemen”, Fontana performed on nearly all of the greatest hits, including Heartbreak Hotel, Blue Suede Shoes and Don’t Be Cruel. Throughout the 1960s he would play for Elvis during the soundtrack sessions for his many cheap-and-cheerful musical comedies. He also played roles – invariably as musicians – in several of them, including (in 1957) Jailhouse Rock and Loving You, and GI Blues in 1960.
In 1968 Fontana was to play a vital role when Elvis decided to break away from the formulaic films and sought to revive his credibility as a serious performer by recording a television special featuring an improvised live segment. Slim, tanned and dressed in a black leather suit, Elvis sat on a central stage surrounded by an ecstatic studio audience and performed hits from the Fifties in between banter with Fontana, Scotty Moore and two old chums, all of whom had been brought in to reassure the nervous star. To emphasise the informal nature of the gathering, Fontana beat the rhythm with his sticks on a guitar case instead of a drum kit.
When the “comeback special”, as it became known, sponsored by Singer sewing machines, was broadcast just before Christmas it proved a huge hit with critics and public, revealing a raw and newly energised Presley. Fontana’s off-the-cuff reminiscences contributed greatly to the uninhibited atmosphere which was key to the show’s success. “Don’t do nothing,” the hip young producer Steve Binder had advised him, “just do what you’re doing.”
But the TV special would be the last time Fontana played with Elvis in public. The King’s dynamic Nashville producer Felton Jarvis wanted studio musicians with a more contemporary sound; and for the extravagant Las Vegas and touring shows, with lush orchestral backing, that would dominate the remaining years of Elvis’s life, the energetic Ronnie Tutt was hired.
The son of a grocer, Dominic Joseph Fontana was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, on March 15 1931. Young “DJ” formed a liking for the drums while playing in his high school marching band, and later honed his trade in strip joints. He joined the Louisiana Hayride after army service in Korea.
When he formally joined Elvis’s group, unlike his colleagues Scotty and Bill he did not complain about the pay – $200 a week on the road – and sensibly concluded: “If it wasn’t for Elvis, we wouldn’t have done anything.”
After finally parting company with Presley, Fontana played with Ringo Starr on his 1970 solo album Beaucoups of Blues, and with a variety of other stars including Paul Mccartney, Dolly Parton, Jeff Beck and Gene Vincent.
With his luxuriant pompadour carefully tended, Fontana was an affable guest at Elvis conventions, entertaining audiences with his fund of stories, including one about driving to Houston with the 19-year-old Elvis in a pink Cadillac to pick up a drum kit.
In 2009 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the sideman category.
Fontana was twice married. His marriage to Barbara Tullier ended in divorce. In 1999 he married Karen Arrington. She and two sons survive him.
D J Fontana, born March 15 1931, died June 13 2018