Hannah Welton (born June 29, 1990) is an American drummer from

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

. Welton previously played jazz fusion in her own band as well as with the trio Pandorum. In 2010, she joined the Milwaukee-based rock band Bellevue Suite. With the latter group she released the album ''This Far From Sanity'' in 2013. She was offered a spot in Prince's backing band

3rdeyegirl 3rdeyegirl, stylized as 3RDEYEGIRL, is an American funk rock band and was Prince's backing band from his 2014 return to Warner Music until his death in 2016. It is a trio consisting of the American drummer Hannah Welton, Canadian guitarist Do ...

with guitarist

Donna Grantis Donna Grantis is a Canadian guitarist, best known for performing and recording with Prince (musician), Prince & 3rdeyegirl. On September 30, 2014, Prince and 3rdeyegirl released their debut album, ''Plectrumelectrum'', which reached #1 on the Bil ...

and bassist Ida Kristine Nielsen in 2013. She is married to Joshua Welton, who co-produced three Prince albums and guested with 3rdeyegirl performances on keyboard and cowbell.

Musical education

Welton's first practical experience as a drummer was in her primary school ensemble, Louisville Leopard Percussionists. At the age of twelve, she began playing professionally in her father's blues band in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. Welton continued her musical education with a scholarship at the Chicago College of Performing Arts, studying in the Vocal Jazz Department as well as playing in the school's Latin Ensemble and Big Band Orchestra.

With Prince and 3rdeyegirl

Welton was recruited by

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

in September 2012 as a guest drummer for the Welcome 2 Chicago three-show residency after seeing videos of her performing online. Soon after, she appeared as lead drummer of the

New Power Generation The New Power Generation, also known as the NPG, was the backing band of musician Prince (musician), Prince from 1990 to 2013. They were replaced by 3rdeyegirl as his backing band in 2013. In 2015, the New Power Generation reunited as Prince's ...

for Prince's performance of his song, ''Rock And Roll Love Affair'' on

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', sometimes shortened to ''JKL'', is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, and broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show tapes and is based out of the Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywo ...

's show on 23 October 2012, as well as in the official music video. Asked by Prince to look for a female guitarist, Hannah, together with her husband Joshua, scouted online and found

via her videos on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

in late November. She auditioned one week later at Paisley Park Studios and subsequently recruited in December 2012. Bassist Ida Nielsen had been performing with The NPG since October 2010, and the only member of the trio to have previous experience playing for Prince.

were formed in December 2012 and went on to tour with Prince on his Live Out Loud Tour in 2013, and his Hit and Run Tour from 2014 to 2015. They released one album, ''

Plectrumelectrum ''Plectrumelectrum'' is the thirty-sixth studio album by American recording artist Prince, and the only to feature his backing band 3rdeyegirl. It was released on September 26, 2014 by NPG Records under a renewed license to Warner Bros. Records ...

'', in 2014. Joshua Welton would also join the tours on percussion. He co-produced Prince's next two albums, ''

Art Official Age ''Art Official Age'' is the thirty-seventh studio album by American recording artist Prince. It was released on September 26, 2014 by NPG Records under a renewed license to Warner Bros. Records, marking the second collaboration of both parties s ...

'' and ''

Hit n Run Phase One ''Hit n Run Phase One'' is the thirty-eighth studio album by American recording artist Prince (musician), Prince. It was first released exclusively on the Tidal (service), Tidal streaming service on September 7, 2015 before being released on CD o ...

'', and co-wrote most tracks on the latter.

Other works

After Prince's death in 2016, Hannah and Joshua started their own

Christian ministry Christian ministry is the vocational work of living and teaching about faith, in the hopes of increasing the population of God's people done by the church, church officials, congregational members, and Jesus followers. The '' Cyclopedia of Bib ...

in 2018.

Discography

With Bellevue Suite * ''This Far from Sanity'' (2013) With

and

* ''

'' (2014)

References

External links