YEAR
2000
INDUCTED BY
Mike Stoller
CATEGORY
Musical Excellence
The most recorded drummer in history.
Hal Blaine is the accompanist to Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound” and one of the most sought-after session drummers in L.A. He has played on forty Number One singles—enough to make his own Top 40.
Hal Blaine
HALL OF FAME
ESSAY
By Max Weinburg
If Hal Blaine had played drums only on the Ronettes’ “Be My Baby,” his name would still be forever uttered with reverence and respect for the power of his big beat.
But “Be My Baby,” however stirring, is but one of literally hundreds of hits on which Hal Blaine appears. During the Sixties, Hal was, undoubtedly, the busiest, most recorded and most successful studio drummer on the West Coast.
His sound and style captured the imagination of the recording industry, particularly the producers, songwriters and musicians. Drummers all over Los Angeles aspired to the standards Hal established, and these drummers emulated his approach.
