Larrie Londin
Encyclopedia
Ralph Gallant, better known by his stage name
Larrie Londin (October 15, 1943 - August 24, 1992), was an American drummer and session musician
. Londin played with a wide range of artists including Journey
and Steve Perry
.
With Journey, he played on Raised On Radio
. With Steve Perry
as a solo artist, he played on Street Talk
.
Larrie also performed with Elvis Presley
on tour during Presley's last years, and can be heard prominently playing with the King on the Madison label's 2007 release of "A New Kind Of Rhythm," a recording of a 1976 Presley concert. He can also be heard on recordings by:
Emmylou Harris, Diana Ross
, The Supremes
, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Martha Reeves
, The Vandellas, Smokey Robinson, Joe Tex, Wilson Pickett, Lionel Richie
, Jerry Lee Lewis
, Boots Randolph
, Charlie Pride, Randy Travis
, Porter Wagoner
, Dolly Parton
, B.B. King, Albert Lee, Larry Carlton
, Lee Ritenour, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Bobby Bare, Merle Haggard
, Hank Snow
, Jerry Reed
, Rodney Crowell, Rosanne Cash
, Don Francisco
(Christian singer of "He's Alive" fame — Londin played drums on that Dove Award winning song in 1977), Dan Fogelberg
, Reba McEntire
, KT Oslin, Vince Gill
, Ricky Skaggs
, Hank Williams, Jr., Chet Atkins
, Adrian Belew
and Ronnie Milsap.
Londin also performed on Dan Hill's 1977 #3 Billboard Hit "Sometimes When We Touch".
As young men, Larrie and his bassist brother Lonnie were members of The Headliners, among the very few white acts signed to a Motown record label. Two singles were released by the Headliners in the early '60s.
By the late '70s, Londin had made Nashville his home, becoming a leading A-team session player, raising a family, and hosting his brother Lonnie for a short time. With his wife, Debbie Gallant, he established D.O.G. Percussion (named for Debbie's initials), the area's first dedicated drum shop. Always promoting innovation in the session business, Londin mentored younger musicians and proposed the first cartage services for Nashville session players. Londin also backed Rodney Crowell
in the 1980s as a member of Crowell's backing band, The Cherry Bombs.
Londin died in Nashville, Tennessee on August 24, 1992 at the age of 48 after suffering a bout of myocardial infarction
.
In an article for Drummerworld, musician James Byron Fox commented that "Larrie's resume reads like Who's Who in music. It's impossible to listen to any radio very long before you hear his solid backbeat. He was a real musician's musician and I hope that someday he'll get the widespread recognition he deserves."
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
Larrie Londin (October 15, 1943 - August 24, 1992), was an American drummer and session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
. Londin played with a wide range of artists including Journey
Journey (band)
Journey is an American rock band formed in 1973 in San Francisco by former members of Santana. The band has gone through several phases; its strongest commercial success occurred between the 1978 and 1987, after which it temporarily disbanded...
and Steve Perry
Steve Perry (musician)
Stephen Ray "Steve" Perry is an American singer and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Journey from 1977–1987 and 1995–1998. Perry had a successful solo career throughout the late 1980s and early '90s.Perry's voice has garnered acclaim from musical peers and music...
.
With Journey, he played on Raised On Radio
Raised on Radio
Journey's ninth studio album , Raised on Radio, was released in May 1986 on the Columbia Records label.Following their two most successful albums, lead singer Steve Perry began to take more control over the band's direction. First, Ross Valory and Steve Smith were fired from the band, against the...
. With Steve Perry
Steve Perry (musician)
Stephen Ray "Steve" Perry is an American singer and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Journey from 1977–1987 and 1995–1998. Perry had a successful solo career throughout the late 1980s and early '90s.Perry's voice has garnered acclaim from musical peers and music...
as a solo artist, he played on Street Talk
Street Talk
Street Talk is Steve Perry's first solo album, released in April, 1984.Street Talk contains Perry's biggest hit as a solo artist, "Oh Sherrie", written for his then-girlfriend Sherrie Swafford. The song hit #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on Billboard's Rock chart, and the accompanying music...
.
Larrie also performed with Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
on tour during Presley's last years, and can be heard prominently playing with the King on the Madison label's 2007 release of "A New Kind Of Rhythm," a recording of a 1976 Presley concert. He can also be heard on recordings by:
Emmylou Harris, Diana Ross
Diana Ross
Diana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...
, The Supremes
The Supremes
The Supremes, an American female singing group, were the premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s.Originally founded as The Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, The Supremes' repertoire included doo-wop, pop, soul, Broadway show tunes, psychedelic soul, and disco...
, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Martha Reeves
Martha Reeves
Martha Rose Reeves is an American R&B and Pop singer and former politician, and was the lead singer of the Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas. During her tenure with The Vandellas, they scored over a dozen hit singles, including "Jimmy Mack", "Dancing in the Street" and "Nowhere to Run"...
, The Vandellas, Smokey Robinson, Joe Tex, Wilson Pickett, Lionel Richie
Lionel Richie
Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr. , is an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Since 1968, he has been a member of the musical group Commodores signed to Motown Records...
, Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
, Boots Randolph
Boots Randolph
Homer Louis "Boots" Randolph III was an American musician best known for his 1963 saxophone hit, "Yakety Sax"...
, Charlie Pride, Randy Travis
Randy Travis
Randy Travis is an American country music singer and actor. Since 1985, he has recorded 20 studio albums and charted more than 30 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, 22 of which were number one hits...
, Porter Wagoner
Porter Wagoner
Porter Wayne Wagoner was a popular American country music singer known for his flashy Nudie and Manuel suits and blond pompadour. He introduced the young Dolly Parton near the beginning of her career on his long-running television show, and they were a well-known duet throughout the late 1960s and...
, Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
, B.B. King, Albert Lee, Larry Carlton
Larry Carlton
Larry Carlton is an American jazz, smooth jazz, jazz fusion, pop, and rock guitarist and singer. He has divided his recording time between solo recordings and session appearances with various well-known bands...
, Lee Ritenour, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Bobby Bare, Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...
, Hank Snow
Hank Snow
Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow was a Canadian-American country music artist. He charted more than 70 singles on the Billboard country charts from 1950 until 1980...
, Jerry Reed
Jerry Reed
Jerry Reed Hubbard , known professionally as Jerry Reed, was an American country music singer, innovative guitarist, songwriter, and actor who appeared in more than a dozen films...
, Rodney Crowell, Rosanne Cash
Rosanne Cash
Rosanne Cash is an American singer-songwriter and author. She is the eldest daughter of the late country music singer Johnny Cash and his first wife, Vivian Liberto Cash Distin....
, Don Francisco
Don Francisco (Christian musician)
Don Francisco is an independent American singer, songwriter, and musician, specialising in the field of contemporary Christian music. He has won two Dove awards, 1980 song of the year , and 1980 Songwriter of the year....
(Christian singer of "He's Alive" fame — Londin played drums on that Dove Award winning song in 1977), Dan Fogelberg
Dan Fogelberg
Daniel Grayling "Dan" Fogelberg was an American singer-songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist, whose music was inspired by sources as diverse as folk, pop, rock, classical, jazz, and bluegrass music...
, Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...
, KT Oslin, Vince Gill
Vince Gill
Vincent Grant "Vince" Gill is an American neotraditional country singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman to the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s, and as a solo artist beginning in 1983, where his talents as a...
, Ricky Skaggs
Ricky Skaggs
Rickie Lee "Ricky" Skaggs is a country and bluegrass singer, musician, producer, and composer. He primarily plays mandolin; however, he also plays fiddle, guitar, and banjo.-Early career:...
, Hank Williams, Jr., Chet Atkins
Chet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...
, Adrian Belew
Adrian Belew
Adrian Belew is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer...
and Ronnie Milsap.
Londin also performed on Dan Hill's 1977 #3 Billboard Hit "Sometimes When We Touch".
As young men, Larrie and his bassist brother Lonnie were members of The Headliners, among the very few white acts signed to a Motown record label. Two singles were released by the Headliners in the early '60s.
By the late '70s, Londin had made Nashville his home, becoming a leading A-team session player, raising a family, and hosting his brother Lonnie for a short time. With his wife, Debbie Gallant, he established D.O.G. Percussion (named for Debbie's initials), the area's first dedicated drum shop. Always promoting innovation in the session business, Londin mentored younger musicians and proposed the first cartage services for Nashville session players. Londin also backed Rodney Crowell
Rodney Crowell
Rodney Crowell is a Grammy Award-winning musician, known primarily for his work as a singer and songwriter in country music....
in the 1980s as a member of Crowell's backing band, The Cherry Bombs.
Londin died in Nashville, Tennessee on August 24, 1992 at the age of 48 after suffering a bout of myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
.
In an article for Drummerworld, musician James Byron Fox commented that "Larrie's resume reads like Who's Who in music. It's impossible to listen to any radio very long before you hear his solid backbeat. He was a real musician's musician and I hope that someday he'll get the widespread recognition he deserves."