John Blackwell Jr. (September 9, 1973 – July 4, 2017) was an American contemporary R&B, funk, jazz, fusion, and pop drummer, best known for his work with

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 ...

. Later, he was a member of

D'Angelo Michael Eugene Archer (born February 11, 1974), better known by his stage name D'Angelo (), is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He first garnered attention after co-producing the single "U Will Know" ...

's backing band, The Vanguard.

Career

Blackwell was born and raised in

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is List of municipalities in South Carolina, the second-mo ...

, and started playing drums at age 3. He learned from his father, John Blackwell Sr., a drummer himself, who played with

Mary Wells Mary Esther Wells (May 13, 1943 – July 26, 1992) was an American singer, who helped to define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s. Along with the Supremes, the Miracles, the Temptations, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, and the F ...

King Curtis Curtis Montgomery (February 7, 1934 – August 13, 1971), known professionally as King Curtis, was an American saxophonist who played rhythm and blues, jazz, and rock and roll. A bandleader, band member, and session musician, he was also a musi ...

Joe Simon Joseph Henry Simon (born Hymie Simon; October 11, 1913 – December 14, 2011) was an American comic book writer, artist, editor, and publisher. Simon created or co-created many important characters in the 1930s–1940s Golden Age of Comic Books ...

, J.J. Jackson,

The Drifters The Drifters are an American pop and R&B/soul vocal group. They were originally formed as a backing group for Clyde McPhatter, formerly the lead tenor of Billy Ward and his Dominoes in 1953. The second group of Drifters, formed in 1959 and ...

, The Spinners, and others. Blackwell stated that he experienced

synesthesia Synesthesia (American English) or synaesthesia (British English) is a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. People with sy ...

since he was a child, seeing colors for

musical note In music, notes are distinct and isolatable sounds that act as the most basic building blocks for nearly all of music. This musical analysis#Discretization, discretization facilitates performance, comprehension, and musical analysis, analysis. No ...

s, and was identified as having

perfect pitch Perfect commonly refers to: * Perfection; completeness, and excellence * Perfect (grammar), a grammatical category in some languages Perfect may also refer to: Film and television * ''Perfect'' (1985 film), a romantic drama * ''Perfect'' (20 ...

while in high school. As a teenager, Blackwell played in both his high-school jazz and marching bands. He began playing in jazz clubs at age 13. At 17, he landed his first professional gig backing jazz singer and bandleader

Billy Eckstine William Clarence Eckstine (July 8, 1914 – March 8, 1993) was an American jazz and pop singer and a bandleader during the swing and bebop eras. He was noted for his rich, almost operatic bass-baritone voice. In 2019, Eckstine was posthumously a ...

. After high school, he attended

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

and worked steadily in local

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

jazz clubs. He left Berklee in 1995 to play with the funk band Cameo, a gig which lasted for three years. Blackwell moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in 1998 to look for more drumming work, and got a job playing with

Patti LaBelle Patricia Louise Holte (born May 24, 1944), known professionally as Patti LaBelle, is an American Rhythm and blues, R&B singer and actress. She has been referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Godmother of Soul". LaBelle began ...

for three years. He appeared on her 1998 album ''

Live! One Night Only ''Live! One Night Only'' is a live album by Patti LaBelle, released in September 1998 through the record label MCA. The album earned LaBelle the Grammy Award for Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance, Best Traditional R&B Vocal ...

'', which won the

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 ...

for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance. Blackwell met

while performing with LaBelle in Minneapolis. Blackwell toured with Japanese singer

Hikaru Utada , also known mononymously as Utada, is a Japanese and American singer, songwriter, and producer. She is considered to be one of the most influential and best-selling musical artists in Japan. She is best known by international audiences for w ...

, and then joined Prince's band,

The New Power Generation The New Power Generation, also known as the NPG, was the backing band of 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 backing band for ...

, in September 2000. Blackwell played with Prince on and off for 12 years, appearing on numerous releases, including the 2001 album, ''

The Rainbow Children ''The Rainbow Children'' is the twenty-fourth studio album by American recording artist Prince. It was released on November 20, 2001, by NPG Records and Redline Entertainment. It was also released through Prince's website earlier in the year. It ...

'', the 2003 '' Live at the Aladdin Las Vegas'' DVD, the 2003 instrumental album, '' N.E.W.S'', which was nominated for a

Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album (previously: Best Pop Instrumental Album) is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording arti ...

, and 2004's ''

Musicology Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, ...

''. Blackwell performed with

Justin Timberlake Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and dancer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Prince of Pop", ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' honored him as the b ...

on his FutureSex/LoveShow tour. He has also played with

Crystal Kay is a Japanese singer, songwriter, actress and radio host. After releasing her first single, "Eternal Memories" (1999), Crystal Kay gained fame for her third studio album, ''Almost Seventeen'' (2002), which debuted at number 2 on the Japanese O ...

P Diddy Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969), better known by his stage name Diddy, and formerly Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, record producer, and record executive. Born in Harlem and raised in Mount Vernon, Combs worked as a ...

and Charlie Singleton. Blackwell played at the 2008

Buddy Rich Bernard "Buddy" Rich (September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987) was an American jazz drummer, songwriter, conductor, and bandleader. He is considered one of the most influential drummers of all time. Rich was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, ...

Memorial Concert. Blackwell played with

Maze A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lead ...

, featuring

Frankie Beverly Howard Stanley Beverly (December 6, 1946 – September 10, 2024), known as Frankie Beverly, was an American singer, songwriter, and producer known primarily for his recordings with the soul and funk band Maze. He formed Maze, originally called R ...

. He released his debut album in December 2009, titled ''The John Blackwell Project''. He has released two educational drumming DVDs: ''John Blackwell - Technique, Grooving and Showmanship'', and ''John Blackwell''. He joined the European leg of singer

's The Second Coming Tour in 2015, as a member of his band, The Vanguard. He also toured as a member of bassist

William "Bootsy" Collins William Earl "Bootsy" Collins (born October 26, 1951) is an American bass guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Rising to prominence with James Brown in the early 1970s before joining the Parliament-Funkadelic collective, Collins established himse ...

' Bootsy's Rubber Band that year. He had endorsements from Dixon Drums,

Remo Remo Inc. is an American musical instruments manufacturing company based in Valencia, California, and founded by Remo Belli in 1957. Products manufactured include drum kits, drumheads, drums, and drum hardware, hardware, and various percussio ...

Drumheads,

Regal Tip Regal Tip is one of the world's largest manufacturers of drum sticks and other percussion mallets. They produce a range of beaters, but are particularly noted as a manufacturer of premium steel brushes and nylon tipped drumsticks. In 2003, the c ...

Drumsticks, and Turkish Cymbals. Previously, he endorsed

Tama Drums Tama Drums (from Japanese: (Kanji); (Kana)) is a brand of drums and hardware manufactured and marketed by Hoshino Gakki. The research and development of its products, along with production of its professional drum lines, is done in Seto, ...

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: People * Torakusu Yamaha, a Japanese businessman and founder of the Yamaha Corporation Companies * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese musical instrument and audio equipment manufacturer ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organi ...

Drums,

Evans Drumheads D'Addario () is a family-owned and operated American multinational company that specializes in musical instrument accessories, headquartered in Farmingdale, Long Island, New York. D'Addario is the world’s largest musical instrument access ...

, Sabian Cymbals,

Zildjian The Avedis Zildjian Company, simply known as Zildjian (), is a musical instrument manufacturer specializing in cymbals and other percussion instruments. Founded by the ethnic Armenian Zildjian family in the 17th-century Ottoman Empire, the com ...

Cymbals and Drumsticks, and Vater Drumsticks. Blackwell joined Chinese musician

Xu Wei Xu Wei (, 1521–1593), also known as Qingteng Shanren (), was a Chinese painter, playwright, poet, and tea master during the Ming dynasty. Cihai: Page 802.Barnhart: Page 232. Life Xu's courtesy names were Wenqing (文清) and then later Wenc ...

's band for his tour named "At This Moment" in 2013. They performed in cities such as Beijing (May 17), Shanghai (July 13), Harbin (August 10), Hangzhou (August 24) and Shenzhen (September 7).

Death

In July 2016, Blackwell announced that he had lost the use of his left arm and leg due to a

brain tumor A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the Human brain, brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign ...

.Prince Drummer John Blackwell Loses Use of Left Arm and Leg
, at Vintage Vinyl News; published June 2016; retrieved July 4, 2017 On July 4, 2017, his wife announced his death. John Blackwell was 43.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackwell, John 1973 births 2017 deaths Musicians from Columbia, South Carolina Berklee College of Music alumni African-American drummers American funk drummers American male drummers American jazz drummers Rhythm and blues drummers Deaths from brain cancer in Florida American male jazz musicians 20th-century American drummers 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century African-American musicians 21st-century African-American musicians Drummers from South Carolina