Bruce Gary (April 7, 1951 – August 22, 2006) was an American musician who was best known as the drummer for the music group

the Knack The Knack was an American power pop band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1978 by Doug Fieger (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Berton Averre (lead guitar, backing vocals), Prescott Niles (bass) and Bruce Gary (drums). Spearheaded by the succes ...

. He was nominated for two

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

s as a stage performer, producer, and recording artist. Born in

Burbank Burbank may refer to: Places Australia * Burbank, Queensland, a suburb in Brisbane United States * Burbank, California, a city in Los Angeles County * Burbank, Santa Clara County, California, a census-designated place * Burbank, Illinois, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, the young Gary had a lot of energy so his parents allowed him to set up the drum kit that his cousin had offered him after getting bored with it. Gary left home at 15 and was drawn to the musical scene of Topanga Canyon, California. He made friends with guitarist

Randy California Randy Craig Wolfe (February 20, 1951 – January 2, 1997), known as Randy California, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, and one of the original members of the rock group Spirit, formed in 1967. Life and career California was b ...

. In the 1960s and early 1970s he played with bluesman

Albert Collins Albert Gene Collins (October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993)Skeely, Richard. "Albert Collins: Biography" Allmusic.com. was an American electric blues guitarist and singer with a distinctive guitar style. He was noted for his powerful playing ...

. By the time he was twenty-four he was touring and recording with former Cream bassist

Jack Bruce John Symon Asher Bruce (14 May 1943 – 25 October 2014) was a Scottish musician. He gained popularity as the primary lead vocalist and ‍bassist ‍of Rock music, rock band Cream (band), Cream. After the group disbanded in 1968, he pursued a ...

and guitarist

Mick Taylor Michael Kevin Taylor (born 17 January 1949) is an English guitarist, best known as a former member of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (1967–1969) and the Rolling Stones (1969–1974). As a member of the Stones, h ...

, who had just left

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

. This stellar lineup also included jazz pianist

Carla Bley Carla Bley (born Lovella May Borg; May 11, 1936 – October 17, 2023) was an American jazz composer, pianist, organist, and bandleader. An important figure in the free jazz movement of the 1960s, she gained acclaim for her jazz opera ''Escalator ...

. Gary also worked with Dr. John in the 1970s. In 1978, singer

Doug Fieger Douglas Lars Fieger (August 20, 1952 – February 14, 2010) was an American musician, singer and songwriter. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of the rock band the Knack. He co-wrote " My Sharona," the biggest hit song of 1979 in the ...

asked him to join a group with guitarist Berton Averre. The three were subsequently joined by bassist Prescott Niles. Fieger and Averre brought in a tune they'd written about Sharona Alperin (

girlfriend A girlfriend is a woman who is a friend, acquaintance or partner to the speaker, usually a female companion with whom one is platonically, romantically, or sexually involved. In a romantic context, this normally signifies a committed r ...

), a teenage girl Fieger was obsessed with. Despite his initial reservations about the song, Gary came up with a beat to match " My Sharona"'s stuttering style. He later said he approached the song like a surf stomp. As he explained, drummers in surf bands often play songs using no cymbals, just kick drum, snare drum, and toms. He also borrowed from the drum part to "Going to a Go Go" by

Smokey Robinson William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. He was the founder and frontman of the pioneering Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he ...

and

The Miracles The Miracles (later known as Smokey Robinson and the Miracles from 1965 to 1972) were an American vocal group formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1955. They were the first successful recording act for Motown Records and are considered one of the most ...

. The final ingredient, he said, was the drum rudiment called a flam, in which one drumstick strikes the drum just before the other does; the flam registers as a single beat, but with a particularly full sound. Gary's immediately recognisable kick-and-snare-drum intro helped propel the power-pop anthem to the top of the US charts. The Knack's debut album ''

Get the Knack ''Get the Knack'' is the debut studio album by American power pop band The Knack, released in June 1979. At the time, the album was one of the most successful debuts in history, selling over one million copies in less than two months and spending ...

'' sold 6 million copies. After the breakup of the Knack in the early 1980s, Gary became an in-demand drummer for studio work and live performance with musicians including

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

Stephen Stills Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Crosby, Stills & Nash; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and Manassas (band ...

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer and songwriter. Known for his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time, having sold ...

Bette Midler Bette Midler ( ;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American actress, comedian, singer, and author. Throughout her five-decade career Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Bette Midler, numero ...

The Ventures The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band formed in Tacoma, Washington, in 1958, by Don Wilson (musician), Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, which was a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar acro ...

Harry Nilsson Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994), sometimes credited as Nilsson, was an American singer-songwriter who reached the peak of his success in the early 1970s. His work is characterized by pioneering vocal overdub experi ...

Robby Krieger Robert Alan Krieger (born January 8, 1946) is an American guitarist and founding member of the rock band the Doors. Krieger wrote or co-wrote many of the Doors' songs, including the hits " Light My Fire", " Love Me Two Times", " Touch Me", and " ...

Cherie Currie Cherie Ann Currie (born November 30, 1959) is an American singer, musician, actress, and artist. Currie was the lead vocalist of the Runaways, a rock band from Los Angeles, in the mid-to-late 1970s. She later became a solo artist. Currie and h ...

Spencer Davis Spencer Davis (born Spencer David Nelson Davies; 17 July 193919 October 2020) was a Welsh musician. He founded the Spencer Davis Group, a band that had several hits in the 1960s including "Keep On Running", " Somebody Help Me", "Gimme Some Lov ...

, Emmett Chapman, and

Sheryl Crow Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. She is noted for her Optimism, optimistic and Idealism, idealistic subject matter, and incorporation of genres including Rock music, rock, Po ...

. He also worked with blues masters

Albert King Albert King ( Nelson; April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992), was an American guitarist and singer who is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential blues guitarists of all time. He is perhaps best known for his popular and ...

and

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues that he develo ...

. In addition to his work as a drummer, he achieved recognition for his work as a producer, recording new albums with

the Ventures The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band formed in Tacoma, Washington, in 1958, by Don Wilson (musician), Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, which was a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar acro ...

and co-producing (with Alan Douglas) a series of seminal archival recordings of

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

including the ''

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

'' compilation.

Death

Gary died at the age of 55 at the Tarzana Regional Medical Center in Tarzana,

, of

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), also known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is a group of blood cancers that includes all types of lymphomas except Hodgkin lymphomas. Symptoms include enlarged lymph nodes, fever, night sweats, weight loss, and tiredn ...

References

External links

A tribute to Bruce Gary

CreemMagazine.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gary, Bruce 1951 births 2006 deaths Deaths from lymphoma in California Deaths from non-Hodgkin lymphoma Musicians from Burbank, California American male drummers 20th-century American drummers 20th-century American male musicians Burials at Eden Memorial Park Cemetery Drummers from California