The Drummer to the Stars

Del and Heather Blake checked into the guesthouse of Pete and Helen McGroary on the Old Golf Course Road at the beginning of last week. Noticing an old wind-up gramaphone on the sideboard of the sitting-room, Del asked Helen had she records to play on it. Out came old 78’s, embossed with the names of some of the great band leaders Glen Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman.
“Do you like this type of music?” Helen asked. “Yeah” Del replied “I used to drum for Buddy Greco and Sammy Davis”.
The following day the couple came into the Times Office and over the next few hours provided a fascinating insight into the big-band and showbusiness scene in America from the 50’s to the 80’s – with a few “off the record” anecdotes thrown in.
Del was born in 1942 in the State of Washington to a Japanese father and Causasian mother. His parents were interred during World War 2 leaving Del to be looked after by his mother’s relatives.
Del’s mother had a show business background and she recognised an artistic streak in her son “when four years old, Santa brought me a set of paper drums - but I was so excited, I fell into them and smashed the lot”, he laughed.
But this did not discourage Del “I did well in school. We were poor – but I didn’t really notice. I took on three paper rounds to get the money to buy sticks, drums, and lessons. My mother really encouraged me – but she wanted me to do well in my studies as well.”
Living in a high-rise apartment with near neighbours was a problem for a budding drummer – but the young Del solved this by heading for a sand-pit near the flats where he could beat the canvas to his heart’s content and annoy no-one.
At second level he played in high-school bands – there weren’t many drummers around, so he got plenty of practice. He knew he was getting to be good. Del did well in his studies and won a scholarship to Gonzaga University. However having got half-way through a four year course, the lure of showbusiness proved too much, Del forsook academia and headed for the bright lights of New York. He was just 20 and already the U.S. national snare-drum champion, a form of percussion that requires intricate phasing and technique. He spent hours every day listening to and learning from the great players like Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich and Louis Belson.
Knowing nobody in the Big Apple, the young Del was lucky enough to be taken on as a page at NBC, the biggest of the T.V. stations in the US at the time. Here he rubbed shoulders with the big stars – it was all live entertainment then, and many of the top drummers gave the youngster lessons and tips that added immensely to his technique.
Indeed it was drumming virtuoso, Bob Rosengarden, who got Del his first real job in the house-band of the Concorde Hotel.
One day Bob rang Del and told him Buddy Greco was looking for a drummer. Del said he was interested, did an audition and got the job. This started a whirlwind year that took the Greco band to Capetown, South Africa; London where the band played for the Queen - and Paris, France.
Back in the States in 1969, the band took up a residency in the Sands Hotel, Las Vegas. In another part of the hotel, Sammy Davis was playing. After the Greco show, Del would head for the main room to hear the Davis Band and indeed Davis’s musicians would call in to listen to Greco. An on-running musicians strike came to an end at this time and a lot of session players were returning to Los Angles where big money was to be made playing for the main movie studios.
This caused a vacancy to come up for a drummer in the Davis Band and some of his crew suggested Del. For a period Del played in both bands – as one finished he would rush into the other room and start again. “The Sands Hotel was the coolest, hippiest place you could imagine.” Del enthused. “There would be over 3,000 guests milling around waiting to see shows starring Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Greco - and other big names of the time.”
But something had to give, and Del made a decision. One day he walked up to Greco in the foyer of the Sands and said “Buddy, I gotta talk to you – Sammy Davis has asked me to join his band – I’m giving you two weeks notice.” Greco, temperamental at the best of times, lost the head and jumped on top of the young Del, knocking him to the floor, and started choking him, as crowds queueing to go into shows watched. He shouted that I was “an ungrateful so-and-so after all he had done for me”
This started two years playing with Davis before Del left to free-lance - later backing a series of top stars including Tom Jones, Englebert Humperdick, Connie Francis and Connie Stevens.
He then left Las Vegas for Los Angeles, where big money was to be made playing the backing music for the top T.V. shows, including ‘The Rockford Files’, ‘Hawaii Five-0’ and live sessions on the ‘Tonight Show’, ‘Johnny Carson’ and ‘Bing Crosby Show’.
But the hectic pace was having an effect – Del started to feel that life was passing by and he wasn’t part of it. Still touring with stars, as well as his studio work, he described the life as “40 minutes of ecstasy and 500 hours of pain”. At 34 years of age he got out!
For a while he bided his time then started into computer generated music but confessed “no matter how advanced computer technology becomes, it will never be able to replicate the true sound of the live instrument.”
Del married Heather two years ago just before Christmas but didn’t take a honeymoon at the time. Then he saw that the World Snare-drumming Championships were being held in Belfast over the October holiday weekend. That was where he himself had started - and the lure was too much. The belated honeymoon was on. After a great weekend in the northern capital, the two come south on the holiday Monday and were lucky enough, when they arrived in Donegal, to book into Helen and Pete’s B&B.
After leaving Donegal they were heading for the Aran Island and then Doolin, Co. Clare “To hear some good Irish traditional music”.
A lovely couple with a great story to tell!

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The Gambia Project

Danny O’Brien, Cllr Terence Slowey, Rita Gleeson, Sandra Buchanan, Cllr Elizabeth McIntyre, Mary Ann Kane, Robert Dunlevy, CEO of VEC Sean O’Longain and Alex Reid

In accepting a cheque to further education in the Gambia, activist Alex Reid said the following:
“County Donegal VEC involvement in the Gambia project began in 2005 as part of its centenary celebrations. At that time the VEC were celebrating 100 years of education provision in Co Donegal, and it seemed appropriate, as part of the celebrations, that the committee would support an education initiative such as the The Gambia Schools Building Project which is at an early stage of development in that country. Various events have been organised by schools/colleges and centres, beginning with the Centenary Gala Ball in November 2005 and continuing with events such as a Bunjee jump, sponsored runners in the Dublin City Marathon, all of which raised funds amounting to €12,760.40 - a substantial figure in terms of purchasing power in The Gambia.
I know that the VEC are delighted to be involved in this project, not just in terms of raising necessary funds for the building and equipping of schools in The Gambia but also in raising awareness among students and staff of the VEC and the wider community, colleges and centres, about the needs of people in countries which are at an earlier stage of development than ourselves.
I would like to commend the VEC for their support of this project and thank all those who contributed to the fund. I can assure you that this money will be put to very good use and will ultimately influence the life chances of many young people and adults in The Gambia in years to come.”