15. Tony Allen
For the period 1968 to 1979, Tony Allen served as the drummer and musical director for Fela Kuti’s band Africa 70, and, along with Kuti, he is widely regarded as a co-founder of the Afrobeat genre of music. Allen has been referred to as “possibly the greatest drummer who has ever lived” by Brian Eno in the past. Due to Kuti’s tyrant-like band politics, Allen was forced to leave Africa 70 in 1979, although he went on to have an impact on a wide range of bands, including Talking Heads and Gorillaz, among others. “I’m a laid-back kind of guy,” Allen stated. “I’m behaving in my drumming the same way I do in my life.”
15. Tony Allen
14. Jerome ‘Bigfoot’ Brailey
Jerome “Bigfoot” “Bigfoot” “Bigfoot” Brailey was a member of Parliament-Funkadelic from 1974 to 1978, when he left to start his own band, Mutiny, which he named after his disdain for then-president George Clinton at the time of the band’s formation. His new bandmates dubbed him “Bigfoot,” most likely as a result of his solid kickdrum abilities. “It’s extremely simple to do funk,” Brailey explained. “It’s all about the excitement of the moment.” Funk emanates from within… My gigs with Parliament have been so zany that I could feel it deep down in my bones, and it’s at those moments that the audience can feel it as well.”
14. Jerome ‘Bigfoot’ Brailey