D.J. FONTANA,
1931-2018

D.J. Fontana, the drummer who put a powerful and steady beat into the music behind Elvis Presley, died Wednesday in Nashville. He was 87.

Fontana’s wife Karen told the Associated Press that her husband died in his sleep and his son David wrote on Facebook, "My Dad passed away in his sleep at 9:33 tonight. He was very comfortable with no pain.”

Known for his work Presley’s greatest recordings, Fontana met Presley at the Louisiana Hayride radio and TV country music program based in Fontana’s hometown of Shreveport, La. They started working together in October 1954 when Fontana joined Presley’s rhythm section of guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black; they used the name The Blue Moon Boys.

Fontana would back Presley into the late 1960s, recording 460 songs with him beginning with “That’s All Right” and including “Heartbreak Hotel, “Jailhouse Rock” and “Don’t Be Cruel.” He was in his band when Presley played The Ed Sullivan Show, appeared on almost every song Presley recorded for his movies and famously beat out a rhythm on a guitar case during the ’68 Comeback Special.

Fontana played drums in his high school marching band while studying the work of big band drummers such as Gene Krupa. He was working in strip joints prior to joining the King and brought elements of swing and blues to Presley’s music that were foreign to country music at the time. Rolling Stone put him at #13 on its list of the 100 Greatest Drummers of All Time.

After parting ways with Presley in early 1969, Fontana recorded with Ringo Starr, Dolly Parton, Waylon Jennings and others. He and Moore recorded a star-studded Presley tribute album, All the King’s Men, in 1997.

In 2009, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.