Which James Brown drummer performed the famous break on the 1970 single "Funky Drummer"?

Clyde Stubblefield performed the famous drum break on James Brown’s 1970 single “Funky Drummer.”

The track was recorded on November 20, 1969, at King Studios in Cincinnati and released as a two-part single in 1970. Brown’s band was built around a repeating funk vamp, and near the end Brown cues the drummer with the instruction to “give the drummer some.” Stubblefield then plays the celebrated eight-bar break.

Stubblefield was one of two drummers in Brown’s band alongside John “Jabo” Starks. Their complementary grooves helped define Brown’s tightly syncopated funk sound. Stubblefield’s break became especially important after hip-hop producers began isolating and looping drum passages in the 1980s.

Listeners sometimes credit Brown himself because he led the session and the record bears his name, or confuse Stubblefield with Starks, who also played on major James Brown recordings. The break’s enormous influence also led to controversy: Stubblefield was not given a songwriting credit and generally did not receive royalties from later samples.