D.J. Fontana, Elvis Presley’s drummer, dead at 87
D.J. Fontana “passed away in his sleep” at 9:33 p.m. Wednesday, said his son, David Fontana of Smyrna, in a Facebook post.
He was 87 years old, and from 1954 to 1968 played drums behind Elvis Presley. His “drum tracks on (Presley’s) classic RCA recordings helped define the rhythmic foundations of the last several decades of pop music,” said music historian Charles Hughes.
Fontana is on approximately 460 of the King’s recordings, including indelible classics “Jailhouse Rock” and “Heartbreak Hotel,” and performed on the ‘68 Comeback Special.
During his years in Nashville, he worked with everyone from Red Sovine to Ringo Starr.
Dominic Joseph Fontana was born March 15, 1931, in Shreveport, Louisiana. He began playing drums in high school and taught himself to play by listening to big band records. He was hired to be the house drummer for the Louisiana Hayride in 1953, and spent his Saturday nights backing country artists such as Webb Pierce and Faron Young.
Fontana met Presley at the Hayride in late 1954: “They sent Elvis’ records from Memphis. I thought the sound was really incredible,” he told The Tennessean in 1984. “It was really different . ... When Elvis, (guitarist) Scotty Moore and (bassist) Bill Black came down as a trio, Scotty approached me about drumming with them. We ran through about two or three songs backstage, including ‘That’s All Right, Mama.’ “
The musicians hit it off, and it wasn’t long before Fontana was touring and recording with them. He spent 14 years with Presley on stage, in the studio and on set — he appeared in several Presley films, including “G.I. Blues,” “King Creole,” “Jailhouse Rock” and “Loving You.”
“D.J.’s first Nashville sessions with Elvis happened in January 1956 at the Television, Radio, and Film Commission (TRAFCO) of the Methodist Church,” said Michael Gray, senior museum editor of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. “After RCA Studio B was built in 1957, Presley recorded more than 200 sides in that room. D.J was on most of the records Elvis made at Studio B. Many times ‘A-Team’ drummer Buddy Harman would join D.J. on percussion. The two drummers would help maintain an exciting but consistent rhythm, with Buddy providing fills while D.J. concentrated on keeping the tempo solid.”
Fontana was booked on the Studio B sessions that resulted in some of Presley’s most beloved hits, such as “A Big Hunk O’ Love,” “Ain’t That Loving You,” “A Fool Such as I,” “I Got Stung,” “Stuck on You,” “It’s Now or Never,” “Are You Lonesome Tonight,” “Little Sister,” “Good Luck Charm,” “Love Letters” and “(You’re the) Devil in Disguise,” as well as his gospel album “How Great Thou Art.”
Fontana moved to Nashville in the ‘60s and became an in-demand session musician.
Funeral arrangements are unknown at this time.