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Mickey Hart

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Mickey Hart was born in 1943 as Michael Steven Hartman in Brooklyn and grew up in Inwood, New York. His mother Leah was a drummer, his father Lenny a champion of rudimental drumming, but he left the family when Mickey was a toddler. At school he mastered the rudiments, with help from his teacher Arthur Jones. Performances by Tito Puente and the music of the Nigerian drummer Babatunde Olatunji shaped him. In 1961 he joined the air force, where he drummed with The Airmen of Note, a big band of the air force band.

Music and breakthrough

In September 1967 he joined the Grateful Dead, alongside the drummer Bill Kreutzmann, with whom he earned the nickname the rhythm devils. His interest in polyrhythm and exotic percussion became a fixed part of the arrangements in what was later called the primal Dead era of 1968 and 1969. He left the band in 1971 by agreement, and returned in 1974, until the group stopped in 1995. Afterwards he played with The Other Ones, The Dead and Dead & Company.

Influence

Besides the Dead he was a solo artist, percussionist and author of books on drumming traditions, and he continued to immerse himself in ethnomusicology and world music. He worked with the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian on documenting musical traditions that were in danger of disappearing. In 1991 he produced Planet Drum, which spent 26 weeks at number one on the Billboard World Music chart and won the first Grammy for Best World Music Album. His solo records are percussive and lean towards new age. In 2009 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Percussive Arts Society.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to a track from Planet Drum and notice the layers of percussion: how many different drums and rhythms do you hear at once, and how do they fit together?

Discography

Studio albums

See also

Categories: Artists