KLB
Ever heard of Keith LeBlanc?
Perhaps your answer is, "yes"; even so, most would answer "no", that they have no idea who Keith LeBlanc is. Of course rattle off a small subset of the artists LeBlanc has done work with, and it's likely more than a few lightbulbs will go off. Try Grandmaster Flash, Annie Lennox, Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, The Rolling Stones, Tina Turner, Peter Gabriel, Living Colour, and Ministry on for size. Yet, no matter how many bands and artists he works with, no matter how many hits and platinum records he has his hands in, he still flies under the radar.
Keith LeBlanc started playing drums at the age of four. He started playing in clubs at the age of Fourteen. In the summer of 1979 Keith LeBlanc met Doug Wimbish and Skip McDonnell . This trio would become the legendary rhythm section behind the hits for Sugar-hill Records. They performed on such classics as Grandmaster Flashes The Message and Freedom,Its Nasty, the Melle Mel album White Lines, and Angie Stones first record Funk You Up . The Sugar Hill Gangs Eight Wonder Funky Four s Thats the Joint. Moving on from the early 80's rap explosion, drummer Keith LeBlanc already released some solo work on Tommy Boy Records, mixing the DMX drumbeats with his own special drumsound. His release No Sell Out featured the cut-up raps of civil rights activist Malcolm X pitched against the infamous DMX drumbeat to acknowledged as the first ever 'sampling record'. Ahead of the time and timeless.
This led Keith into producing and doing drum sessions for Tommy Boy Records. He worked With Africa Bambatta And James Brown and many of the Tommy Boy artists He also did lots of sessions for Arthur Baker. Doug and Keith also contributed to the Artists United Against Apartheid Released 1985 LeBlanc, moved to London working with British mixer/producer Adrian Sherwood of On-U Sound. Together creating the sound of funk noise giants Tackhead with Wimbish,and McDonald They achieved success in the underground and dance hall scene with hits like Mind at the End of Tether and Whats My Mission Now? TACKHEAD'S first three songs at the Ritz on Saturday re-emphasized its status as one of the finest rhythm sections of the 1980's. Skip McDonald on guitar, Doug Wimbish on bass, and Keith LeBlanc on drums - the core of the famed early rap label Sugarhill Records - put on an astonishingly hard show; the beat sounded like a thousand iron doors shutting at once. Like the great rhythm sections of the past, from Walter Page and Jo Jones to the Meters, Tackhead has its own set of addictive rhythms -which can be listened to, with no embellishment, all night long. PETER WATROUS New York Times They also did some work with Mark Stewart, formerly of Popgroup, Gary Clail, and Bim Sherman. Keith's landmark album "Major Malfunction"
(WR005) was of great influence to a whole generation of musicians. The album,produced by Keith, was a reaction to the 1986 disaster with space shuttle Challenger, started off a whole new genre of industrial music. Tackhead went on to produce Friendly as a Hand grenade, featuring vocalist Bernard Fowler, followed by the SBK album Strange Things. Tackhead-members have never stopped recording together. They have worked under various names such as Interference, Strange Parcels and of course Skip McDonald's soloproject Little Axe featuring vocalists Saz Bell and Keven Gibbs Apart from his work as member of the legendary On-U Sound posse, LeBlanc also played with many brilliant musicians in london and Europe Playing on many hit records . He released-Ten sampling cd's with loads of drum samples and sound effects, Also many solo projects from his label Blanc Records. Keith's writing production and drumming skills have attracted the likes of Living Colour, Peter Gabriel, The Cure, Ministry, and Nine Inch Nails. James Brown Trevor Horn, Seal to R.E.M., The Rolling Stones, Annie Lennox, Jalal (Last Poets), The Stone Roses, Robert Palmer and Bomb The Bass. He also produced Charles & Eddie's hit record Would I Lie To You, along with Tim Simenon of Bomb The Bass. Michael Stipe (REM): Keith Le Blanc is a revolutionary. House God Head with a benie cap on. He rules my roost.
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