| B i o g r a p h y |
Chester Cortez Thompson
(born December 11, 1948 in Baltimore, Maryland) (not to be confused
with the Santana keyboard player) is an American drummer and session
musician.
Thompson made his name as a session drummer, going on to play in Frank Zappa's touring band (as part of the 1973-1974 lineups which also featured percussionist Ruth Underwood and jazz keyboardist George Duke) and with Weather Report. He played on such noted Zappa albums as One Size Fits All, Roxy & Elsewhere, and Overnite Sensation. His longest standing gig was with Genesis from 1977, playing on their tours in that year, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983/4, 1986/7, 1992 and the 2007 reunion Turn It On Again Tour. Chester is featured on their live albums Seconds Out, Three Sides Live and The Way We Walk Volume 1, Volume 2 and Live Over Europe 2007. Thompson continues to work with Phil Collins on his solo concert tours, drumming on the 1982/83 Hello I must be going tour, 1985 No Jacket Required tour, 1990 But Seriously tour, The Tarzan Premiere tour of 1999, The Final Farewell tour of 2004/05, Chester appears on Phil Collins' Serious Hits... Live! live album and DVD, and has released his own solo album, A Joyful Noise.
Chester also plays on the Steve Hackett albums, Please Don't Touch and Genesis Revisited. Later on, he played on Tony Banks' solo album A Curious Feeling .He also appears on Tokyo Tapes album released in 1998 which features Steve Hackett and John Wetton amongst many others.
Chester's playing style is widely acknowledged and respected, and can be seen on numerous live videos of Genesis, from late 1970s up to early 1990s. His live playing with the band is a striking mixture of his own style and Collins' own, being equally comfortable with acoustic and electronic drums. In the past, Chester has endorsed Pearl drums and Paiste cymbals, but now endorses DW drums and Sabian cymbals.