Remo Delmo Belli (June 22, 1927 – April 25, 2016) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

drummer who developed and marketed the first successful synthetic drumheads and founded the

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 ...

company.

Biography

Belli was born in

Mishawaka, Indiana Mishawaka () is a city on the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States. The population was 51,063 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Its nickname is "the Princess City". Misha ...

, and began drumming at the age of 12. At age 16, he started work as a professional musician before serving in the U.S. Navy, where he also played in a band. After his discharge he moved to

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 ...

, where he performed in clubs and toured with

Anita O'Day Anita Belle Colton (October 18, 1919 – November 23, 2006), known professionally as Anita O'Day, was an American jazz singer and self-proclaimed “song stylist” widely admired for her sense of rhythm and dynamics, and her early big band appe ...

and

Billy May Edward William May Jr. (November 10, 1916 – January 22, 2004) was an American composer, arranger and trumpeter. He composed film and television music for ''The Green Hornet (TV series), The Green Hornet'' (1966), ''The Mod Squad (TV series), T ...

. After opening a store, Drum City, on Santa Monica Boulevard in 1950, he realized after a few years that the growth of

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

meant that there were insufficient supplies of calfskin, the traditional material for drumheads, to meet the demands. He bought a supply of

Mylar BoPET (biaxially oriented polyethylene terephthalate) is a polyester film made from stretched polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and is used for its high tensile strength, chemical stability, dimensional stability, transparency reflectivity, an ...

, a durable

polyester Polyester is a category of polymers that contain one or two ester linkages in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include some natura ...

film, and after testing its qualities by stapling it to a drum hoop, established a partnership with chemist Samuel Muchnick who developed a way of bonding the plastic membrane to an

aluminum Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

hoop. After founding the company Remo Inc., he started marketing the new synthetic drumheads in 1957, with endorsements from leading drummers such as Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa. The new drumheads, marketed as Remo Weather King, eventually became a huge commercial success. Belli later said that the invention "changed everything in the whole musical instruments category; it was no longer woodwinds and brass winds and strings. It became guitars and amplification and drums." His company grew to accommodate a large factory in Valencia, California, where he lived. He also developed a range of other percussion instruments, and became an advocate for the use of drumming as therapy. Belli died of pneumonia in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

, aged 88.

References

External links

Remo Belli
interview at NAMM Oral History Library (2001) * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Belli, Remo 1927 births 2016 deaths American jazz drummers American people of Italian descent People from Mishawaka, Indiana American businesspeople Deaths from pneumonia in California Jazz musicians from Los Angeles American male drummers Drummers from Los Angeles Drummers from Indiana