20th-century American drummers

David Eric Grohl (born January 14, 1969) is an American musician. He is the founder of the rock band Foo Fighters, for which he is the lead singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter. Prior to forming Foo Fighters, he was the drummer of the rock band Nirvana from 1990 to 1994.
At 17, Grohl joined the punk rock band Scream after the departure of their drummer Kent Stax. Grohl became the drummer for Nirvana after Scream broke up in 1990. Nirvana's second album, Nevermind (1991), was the first to feature Grohl on drums and became a worldwide success. After Nirvana disbanded following the death of Kurt Cobain in 1994, Grohl formed Foo Fighters as a one-man project. The first Foo Fighters album was released in 1995, and a full band was assembled to tour and record under the Foo Fighters name; they have released 11 studio albums.
Grohl is the drummer and co-founder of the rock supergroup Them Crooked Vultures, and has recorded and toured with Queens of the Stone Age and Tenacious D. He has also participated in the side projects Late! and Probot. Grohl began directing Foo Fighters music videos in 1997 and released his debut documentary, Sound City, in 2013. It was followed by the documentary miniseries Sonic Highways (2014) and the documentary film What Drives Us (2021). In 2021, Grohl released an autobiography, The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music. In 2022, he and the Foo Fighters starred as themselves in the comedy horror film Studio 666.
In 2010, Grohl was described by the Classic Rock Drummers co-author Ken Micallef as one of the most influential rock musicians of the previous 20 years. Grohl was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of Nirvana in 2014 and as a member of Foo Fighters in 2021.

John Von Ohlen (May 13, 1941, Indianapolis, Indiana – October 3, 2018, Cincinnati, Ohio) was an American jazz drummer who worked for Woody Herman in 1967 and 1969, then with Stan Kenton from 1970 to 1972. He began playing Trombone in middle school, and played through high school. He graduated from North Central High School in 1960. He then went to North Texas State briefly, but returned to Indianapolis shortly after.Von Ohlen led the Blue Wisp Big Band in Cincinnati from 1980 to 2018, and his own groups under his name ranging from quartets to big band. From 1967 to 1968, Von Ohlen toured with Billy Maxted’s Manhattan Jazz Band. In the 1980s and 1990s, Von Ohlen was a member of a big band led by the pianist Steve Allee.Von Ohlen died on October 3, 2018, at the age of 77.

Sandy West (July 10, 1959 – October 21, 2006) was an American singer, drummer and songwriter. She was one of the founding members of The Runaways, the first teenage all-girl hard rock band to record and achieve widespread commercial success in the 1970s.

Elmer "Mousey" Alexander (June 19, 1922 – October 9, 1988) was an American jazz drummer.

Robert Daniel Ealey (December 6, 1925 – March 8, 2001) was an American electric blues singer, who performed Texas blues. Among other releases, he recorded a couple of albums for Black Top Records in the 1990s, having earlier formed a duo with U.P. Wilson. Ealey also worked with Tone Sommer, Mike Buck, and Mike Morgan.Ealey's best-known work includes "One Love One Kiss" and "Turn Out the Lights". He variously worked with the Boogie Chillun Boys, the Juke Jumpers and the Five Careless Lovers.

Wilbert Granville Thodore Hogan Jr. (January 16, 1929 – August 7, 2004) was an American jazz drummer. He used both Granville and Wilbert professionally, and is credited variously with names and initials on albums.

John Barnes Chance (November 20, 1932 – August 16, 1972) was an American composer. Chance studied composition with Clifton Williams at the University of Texas, Austin, and is best known for his concert band works, which include Variations on a Korean Folk Song, Incantation and Dance, and Blue Lake Overture.

Claudia Miriam Gonson (born April 5, 1968) is an American musician best known for her work with The Magnetic Fields. She often provides the band lead vocals as well as performing the piano or drums. She is also the band's manager.
Gonson met Stephin Merritt in high school in the early 1980s, and the pair have worked together ever since.
While in high school at Concord Academy, Gonson performed in her first band, the Zinnias, in which Merritt wrote or co-wrote most of the band's material with John Gage. The band broke up when Gonson left to attend Columbia University. Gonson later returned to the Boston area to attend Harvard University, and joined the group Lazy Susan, which also included Therese Bellino and Shirley Simms.She has since performed on many of Merritt's albums, including the critically acclaimed 1999 album 69 Love Songs, and frequently appears with him live as part of the usual quartet that constitutes The Magnetic Fields.
Gonson has been Merritt's longtime manager. She appears extensively in Strange Powers, the 2009 documentary by Kerthy Fix and Gail O'Hara about Merritt and The Magnetic Fields.
As well as her work with Merritt, Gonson also plays drums in the band Tender Trap. She has written and performed her own music with Shirley Simms, Michael Hearst, Tanya Donelly and Rick Moody. She has also played drums in Providence, Rhode Island-based band Honeybunch and performs as the lead vocalist in Merritt's Future Bible Heroes project. She sang on Neil Gaiman's song "Bloody Sunrise".In an interview with The Advocate, Gonson remarked:
"When we started Magnetic Fields we purposely had one lesbian, one gay guy, one straight woman, and one straight man. The audience could identify with whomever they wanted."In that interview, Gonson noted that she feels that Merritt's songs are predominantly about "Loneliness, isolation, and the need to be recognized by another person." She believes that if homophobia were not so prevalent, these experiences "would be less rampant instead of being so associated with the gay personality." Gonson believes that many LGBT youth have listened to The Magnetic Fields for "words of wisdom".
In 2010, Gonson gave birth to her daughter Eve.