BIOGRAPHY

Clyde Stubblefield

Clyde Stubblefield, born on April 18, 1943 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, was an American drummer, best known for his work with James Brown.

Stubblefield's recordings with James Brown are considered to be some of the standard-bearers for funk drumming, including the singles "Cold Sweat", "There Was A Time", "I Got The Feelin'", "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud", "Ain't It Funky Now", "Mother Popcorn", and the album Sex Machine.

His groove on James Brown's "Funky Drummer" is believed to be the world's most sampled record. Stubblefield was featured in a PBS Independent Lens documentary, Copyright Criminals which aired January 19, 2010. In the mid-nineties producer/songwriter Richard Mazda wrote and produced a record, Revenge of The Funky Drummer, which was Clyde's first solo record.

In 1996 Clyde released his own sample album, The Original Funky Drummer Breakbeat Album, which contains 26 tracks of isolated drum mixes of his playing.

Stubblefield has collaborated with fellow James Brown drummer, Jabo Starks, forming a duo, the Funkmasters, and releasing several albums — Find the Groove (2001) and Come Get Summa This (2006).

Clyde Stubblefield died on February 18, 2017, from kidney failure. Having no health insurance and being on dialysis for numerous years, it was disclosed in 2016 that the pop icon, Prince, had paid for nearly $100,000 of the Stubblefield's healthcare costs.