Keith LeBlanc obit

Keith LeBlanc RIP

 

He was not on the list.

Sad to hear of the passing of Keith LeBlanc, dubwise drummer extraordinaire. One of the kings of rhythm his pioneering drumming shaped so much music with the classic rhythm section he had with Doug Wimbish & Skip MacDonald on those key Tackhead albums.

His career started out at Sugar Hill Records recording with hip hop pioneers Grandmaster Flash and also on Tommy Boy record releases. He is also featured on several tracks Nine Inch Nails ‘Pretty Hate Machine’.

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He was a drummer and record producer who was a member of the bands Little Axe and Tackhead.

His record "No Sell Out" was one of the first sample-based releases. The song was a success, charting at No. 60 on the UK Singles Chart, and becoming the single of the week for several major music publications. His career started out on Sugar Hill Records recording with hip hop pioneers Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel, and released several singles on and was a studio musician for Tommy Boy Records. He is also featured on several tracks on the album Pretty Hate Machine by Nine Inch Nails. He had his own record label on which he still released music, samples records, and experiments.

LeBlanc was born in Bristol, Connecticut in 1954 and grew up there. He got his start playing drums after seeing Ringo Starr from the Beatles on TV. After showing an early interest and focus, his parents bought him a practice pad, and he joined the orchestra in school. A drummer in school encouraged his early interest, inspiring him to cobble together a makeshift kit which he played along to records on his father's HiFi system. He performed his first show at 14 after being snuck into the club by his older bandmates.

LeBlanc's friend Harold Sargent, the drummer for the house band at Sugar Hill Records, was retiring and needed to find his replacement. He brought in LeBlanc to audition for Doug Wimbish and Skip McDonald, who agreed to take him on after hitting it off with LeBlanc. After replacing Sargent, LeBlanc worked as the session drummer for Sugar Hill Records for four years.