# Lead vocalists who play drums **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 2, 2006, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-drums/355026 "2006-05-02T00:46:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![robdavsuss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@robdavsuss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robdavsuss)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-drums/355026/1 "2006-05-02T00:46:06Z")
Inspired by this [thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=369701) I can only come up with two lead singer/drummers: Phil Collins and Don Henley. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-drums/355026/2 "2006-05-02T00:47:47Z")
Levon Helm of the Band Robert Wyatt of Soft Machine ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-drums/355026/3 "2006-05-02T01:50:09Z")
Davey Jones of the Monkees. Officially, if not actually. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-drums/355026/4 "2006-05-02T01:59:37Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Davey Jones of the Monkees. > > Officially, if not actually. I thought that Dolenz was the band’s pretend drummer. ---
**Author:** ![jake1964](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@jake1964](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jake1964)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-drums/355026/5 "2006-05-02T02:00:57Z")
He was. But he also sang lead on probably as many songs as Jones. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-drums/355026/6 "2006-05-02T02:04:54Z")
> [@jake1964](#): > > He was. But he also sang lead on probably as many songs as Jones. My point was that I didn’t realize that Jones played drums. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-drums/355026/7 "2006-05-02T02:08:53Z")
He didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-drums/355026/8 "2006-05-02T02:21:28Z")
Possibly the greatest singer who played drums in his/her own act was Karen Carpenter, although the Carpenters used a separate drummer in concerts after they went uranium. (One of whom was, IIRC, the grown-up Cubby O’Brian, of _Mickey Mouse Club_ fame). ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-drums/355026/9 "2006-05-02T03:18:03Z")
Well, if we limit consideration to drummers who were the primary lead singers of their bands… then in addition to Don Henley & Phil CoOllins, there was: 1. Gil Moore shared lead vocals with Rik Emmett in Triumph. 2. Levon Helm of the Band. There were many more drummers who sang lead at least occasionally, including: 3. Debbie Peterson of the Bangles 4. Peter “Hard Luck Woman” Criss of Kiss 5. Ringo “Yellow Submarine” Starr of the Beatles 6. Roger “I’m In Love With My Car” Taylor of Queen ---
**Author:** ![MrJackboots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MrJackboots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrJackboots)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-drums/355026/10 "2006-05-02T03:22:31Z")
I believe Andrew Eldritch played the drums in the first Sisters of Mercy album, before he started programming Doktor Avalanche. ---
**Author:** ![J.Gelert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/53a042/32.png) [@J.Gelert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J.Gelert)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-drums/355026/11 "2006-05-02T06:58:40Z")
Well, Meg White of the White Stripes has sang on a few of their songs…‘Passive Manipulation.’ ‘In The Cold Cold Night,’ and ‘Well, It’s True That We Love One Another.’ Pretty good, too. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-drums/355026/12 "2006-05-02T07:04:15Z")
Terry Bozzio of Frank Zappa and Missing Persons. (I’m not sure if he sang while in Missing Persions, but I know he sang while with Frank Zappa.) ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-drums/355026/13 "2006-05-02T08:45:34Z")
Um, Mick Fleetwood? Atreyu? The Animals? Peter Criss is the Ashley Simpson of the drumming world. Hell, he’s been dissed in recording magazines for being a shitty drummer. I saw him live once. He sucked great donkey balls. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-drums/355026/14 "2006-05-02T12:58:20Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > I thought that Dolenz was the band’s pretend drummer. While they used studio musicians early on (due to the insistance of the record company), the Monkees eventually played all their instruments. After about a year after the show premiered, serious musicians refused to mock the Monkees’s talent – they played pretty well considering. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-drums/355026/15 "2006-05-02T16:52:06Z")
Kelly Keagy of Night Ranger. “What I Like About You” by the Romantics is sung by the drummer. Jürgen “Ventor” Reil of the German heavy metal band Kreator, sang many lead vocals in the early days; including “Riot of Violence”, which remains a staple of their live shows. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-drums/355026/16 "2006-05-02T20:13:44Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > I thought that Dolenz was the band’s pretend drummer. :smack: Of course he was. Please excuse my brain fart. ---
**Author:** ![CrisLander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/22d042/32.png) [@CrisLander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrisLander)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-drums/355026/17 "2006-05-02T20:36:00Z")
Technically not what you asked for, but Dave Grohl was Nirvana’s drummer and is Foo Fighters’ lead singer. I think he has done the drums in more than one of Foos’ songs too. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-drums/355026/18 "2006-05-02T20:41:23Z")
Ben Johnston of Biffy Clyro sings lead pretty often for at least part of their songs. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-drums/355026/19 "2006-05-02T20:57:16Z")
> [@CrisLander](#): > > Technically not what you asked for, but Dave Grohl was Nirvana’s drummer and is Foo Fighters’ lead singer. I think he has done the drums in more than one of Foos’ songs too. With the exception of one guitar part contributed by Greg Dulli, the Foos’ first album was all Dave. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-drums/355026/20 "2006-05-02T22:30:41Z")
Technically, Emitt Rhodes was both drummer and singer, but he also played all the other instruments himself, too. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-drums/355026.md?page=2)