Dame Drummer
Dame Drummer
Cleveland, Ohio in Grandma’s kitchen is where it all began. The clashing of pots and pans being cleaned, dried, put away under the sink only to be ransacked and set up like drums by a 2-year-old toddler. Reaching into the first drawer to the right to find a pair of wooden spoons and Voila, a musician is Born. Dame Drummer hails from a musical family. His Grandfather Chink Stevenson, the musical patriarch of the family is a “who’s who” lister and a “Cleveland Jazz Legend” award winner on the upright bass. Both of Chink’s Sons are also accomplished bass players as well but on the electric side. His youngest son Mark Landed a gig with Gerald and Sean’s band “Levert” while in high school but enlisted in the army just before the band’s signing to a major label. Dame still has memories of the rehearsals in Eddie Levert’s basement. “I broke a high hat stand and I remember hearing Gerald yelling “Mark! Come and get your nephew…He’s down here breaking S*#*!”. “I also remembered being consoled by their father Eddie and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Chink’s other son gary is currently the bassist for Cleveland’s longest standing contemporary Jazz band ‘‘Forecast”. With so many bass players in the house Dame accepted intuitively the role of time-keeper. After the noisy days and nights of shedding on pots, pans, buckets and trash cans the family was convinced that Dame was ready for the real deal. His family purchased him a set of Ludwig drums. Within his first few weeks of practice his drum teacher was killed in their hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. Although this was a tough blow, it didn’t stop him. His dad bought him the hottest albums that were out at the time: Prince’s “Purple Rain” and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. His father’s instructions were simple, “Play These”. The family learned that Dame could listen and regurgitate exactly what he heard. He had “THE POCKET”. Dame spent most of his free time on the drums playing and singing to his favorite tunes. Although Dame possessed a strong passion for music, in his adolescent years something happened; he picked up a basketball. Being the tallest kid in his neighborhood, it wasn’t long before his friends wooed him away from his drums and on to the courts. Dame would eventually play collegiate and pro ball in France of 2002. Even then dame kept the music very close, composing songs on his laptop and performing them for his fellow basketball friends while playing ball abroad. In 2004 While playing in the American Basketball Association (ABA) Dame would spend any time that he wasn’t obligated to the hardwood in his room writing and composing songs and driving his teammates crazy with the repetitivity of the music. After leaving the game in 2006 Dame felt a serious tug from music. He was itching to play drums again and was also starting to build a sizable catalog of production. After reaching out to his Uncle Gary, he landed his first paying gig playing cover tunes with “The 2527 Band” and has been working ever since. In 2008 Dame formed Sweaty Llama Music and in 2009 as the CEO and head producer landed full production credit on Predestined Muzic’s “Predestined” and Sylvia Benford’s “It’s in the Praise"in 2010. Dame also produced “Your Love” by Sarah’s Girl on her debut album “All About Me”. In 2011 Dame was hired as musical director for Superwoman Productions stage play “Let The Church Say Amen”. He eventually was assigned the lead role when asked to read in place of the lead actor who was late to a rehearsal. Let’s just say the director and cast were blown away. After playing the lead role as Reverend Nathaniel Martin and scoring, composing and writing most of the soundtrack and score Dame left his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio in 2012 and headed to California where he currently resides. Dame Drummer is becoming a well-known name in the music industry. Respected for his eclectic pocket, production and feel, the singer/songwriter/producer/ is extremely versatile. You’ll hear influences of a variety of musical genres including Jazz, R&B, Hip-Hop, Rock, and Gospel. His work has landed him countless session and production work with a long list of artists. Dame has toured in over 4 continents performing in London, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Moscow, Colombia, Victoria BC, Germany, Panama and Portugal to name a few. His solo music has reached people in every continent with the exception of Antarctica. He has worked with a long list of artists including LeVICE, Jazz Mafia, Martin Luther, Marcus Machado, Uriah Duffy, Aisha Fukushima, DaM-FunK, Jennifer Johns, Kev Choice, Conya Doss, Alvin Frazier, Myron, 7 Complete, Mugpush, DJ Teeko, Sarah’s Girl, Liam Furey and the list goes on. With the same ear for music beyond his drumming abilities Dame is also a well versed producer across multiple genres and an active voting member of The Recording Academy. You can catch a diverse display of Dame’s production, arrangement and vocal contributions on his self-produced solo album entitled “BREATHE”. Dame proudly endorses CAD Audio.
