Dominic Joseph Fontana (March 15, 1931 – June 13, 2018) was an American musician best known as the

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

for

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

for 14 years. In 1955, he was hired to play drums for Presley, which marked the beginning of a 15-year relationship. He played on over 460

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

recordings with Elvis.

Career

After serving in Korea with the U.S. Army, Fontana (nicknamed "D.J.") was employed by the ''

Louisiana Hayride ''Louisiana Hayride'' is a radio and later television country music show that was broadcast from the Shreveport Municipal Memorial Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana; during its heyday from 1948 to 1960, it helped to launch the careers of some ...

'' to be an in-house drummer on its Saturday night radio broadcast. Fontana joined a band (originally assembled by

Sam Phillips Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American disc jockey, songwriter and record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, R ...

) that was without a drummer and included

Scotty Moore Winfield Scott Moore III (December 27, 1931 – June 28, 2016) was an American guitarist who formed The Blue Moon Boys in 1954, Elvis Presley's backing band. He was studio and touring guitarist for Presley between 1954 and 1968. Rock critic ...

(lead guitar),

Bill Black William Patton Black Jr. (September 17, 1926 – October 21, 1965) was an American musician and bandleader who is noted as one of the pioneers of rock and roll. He played in Elvis Presley's early trio, The Blue Moon Boys. Black later formed Bill ...

(bass), and Elvis Presley (

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

). They called themselves

the Blue Moon Boys The Blue Moon Boys were an American rock and roll band that was formed by Elvis Presley, lead guitarist Scotty Moore and double bass player Bill Black. The group members were introduced by Sun Studio owner Sam Phillips in 1954, except for drum ...

. This became the band that would perform and record the vast majority of Presley's hits of the 1950s. Along with the occasional piano and backing vocals from the

Jordanaires The Jordanaires were an American vocal quartet that formed as a gospel group in 1948. Over the years, they recorded both sacred and secular music for recording companies such as Capitol Records, RCA Victor, Columbia Records, Decca Records, V ...

, the Blue Moon Boys played on several Elvis hits, including "

Heartbreak Hotel "Heartbreak Hotel" is a song recorded by American singer Elvis Presley. It was released as a single on January 27, 1956, Presley's first on his new record label RCA Victor. It was written by Mae Boren Axton and Tommy Durden, with credit being g ...

", " Hound Dog", "

Don't Be Cruel "Don't Be Cruel" is a song that was recorded by Elvis Presley and written by Otis Blackwell in 1956.Victor (2008), ''The Elvis Encyclopedia'', p.115-116 It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2004, it was ranked No. 197 in ' ...

", and " Jailhouse Rock". The band toured extensively. Throughout 1956 and 1957, the band had several television appearances, which included ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the ''CB ...

''. The band broke up in 1958. Although the band had officially broken up, Fontana, Moore, and Elvis still regularly played and recorded together throughout the 1960s. In 1968, Fontana performed on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

television special, often referred to as '' Elvis' Comeback Special''. Fontana played with Elvis for 13 years, from 1955 to 1968.

Stan Lynch Stanley Joseph Lynch (born May 21, 1955) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. He was the original drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for 18 years until his departure in 1994. Early years Lynch was born in Cincinn ...

said of Fontana: "Armed with accuracy, power, swing, dynamics, great time and — the biggest compliment of all — simplicity whenever it was best, D.J. rocked the greatest singer and the greatest songs ... ever. He did it year after year, record after classic record. In a world of one trick ponies and lucky 'Rock Stars,' D.J. is the real deal." Moore and Fontana also performed together without Presley, including a 2001 recording with

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

of "

That's All Right (Mama) "That's All Right" is a song written and originally performed by the American blues singer Arthur Crudup, and recorded in 1946. It was rereleased in early March 1949 by RCA Victor under the title "That's All Right, Mama", which was issued as RC ...

Other work

In 1983, Fontana published a book in pictorial form, titled ''D.J. Fontana Remembers Elvis'', detailing his years playing with Elvis. Fontana's ''Life and Times'' weekly phonecasting debuted on July 3, 2007.

Recognition

Fontana was inducted into the

Rockabilly Hall of Fame The original Rockabilly Hall of Fame was an organization and website launched on March 21, 1997, to present early rock and roll history and information relating to the artists and personalities involved in rockabilly. Headquartered in Nashville ...

on January 14, 2009, and on April 4, also in 2009, he was inducted into the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...

, in the "sidemen" category. English musician

Wayne Fontana Glyn Geoffrey Ellis (28 October 19456 August 2020),

(born Glyn Geoffrey Ellis) took his stage name from the drummer. Fontana was played by Ed Begley Jr. in the 1979 motion picture ''

Elvis Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Presley's sexuall ...

'' and by Eric William Pierson in the 2005

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

miniseries ''

''.

Death

Fontana died in his sleep on June 13, 2018, in Nashville at the age of 87. At the time of his death, he was suffering from complications of a broken hip.

Recordings

Unknown recording duet: ''Robert Hampton and Johnny Paycheck'', "I Love My Jesus" Drummer: ''D.J. Fontana''

References

External links

ElvisInfoNetwork Interview with DJ Fontana 2010

Interview with D. J. FontanaD. J. Fontana Phonecasting ChannelDJ Fontana Interview
at NAMM Oral History Library (2001)] {{DEFAULTSORT:Fontana, D. J. 1931 births 2018 deaths American male drummers Musicians from Shreveport, Louisiana American rock drummers 20th-century American drummers American memoirists 20th-century American male musicians Elvis Presley Burials at Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery (Nashville, Tennessee) Drummers from Louisiana