Fred Below

Below was born in Chicago, and as he put it – "grew up around nothing but music". He started learning music and playing drums in the DuSable High Schooland was one of the students of the "star maker", Captain Walter Henri Dyett."DuSable High School had one of the best teachers. That was Capt. Walter Dye(tt). That's where I learned my music" and at about the age of 14, formed a sort of a jazz band with two of his high school friends, Johnny Griffin and Eugene Wright.

As a young man, Below served in the Army twice. The first time between 1945–1946, after being conscripted into the United States Army, he served in the infantry ("I practiced on helmet liners, helmets, boxes and things like that").Though he recalled that while serving at Fort McClellan, Alabama, before he was sent to the South Pacific, he "...saw Tommy Potter the bass player, and then Prez Lester Young... (and) had an opportunity to sit in and play with them"

In 1946, when he was discharged from his service and came back home to Chicago, Below attended the reputable Roy C. Knapp School of Percussion,see [http://www.pas.org/about/hall-of-fame/roy-knapp Roy C. Knapp] at the PAS Hall of Fame from which he graduated in 1948, and in which he received a wide and thorough musical education.[https://scottkfish.com/2015/04/02/fred-below-describes-the-roy-c-knapp-school-of-percussion/ Fred Below Describes the Roy C. Knapp School of Percussion] – part of a 1982 recorded interview with Fred Below

Below re-enlisted the army in 1948, this time as part of the Special Services, and he served in Germany as a member of the 427th Army band. After that second service, he stayed and played in a nightclub in Germany before returning to the United States in 1951.

Back in Chicago, Below joined the Aces, a band comprising the guitar-playing brothers Louis and Dave Myers and the harmonica player Junior Wells. In 1952, Little Walter left the Muddy Waters band to pursue a solo career, Wells took over his role on harp in the Muddy Waters band, and Walter commandeered the Aces (the Myers brothers and Below). As Little Walter and the Nightcats, they became one of the top electric blues bands in Chicago.{{Cite book |last=Robert Palmer |url=https://archive.org/details/deepblues00palm/page/212 |title=Deep Blues |date=November 13, 1982 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-006223-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/deepblues00palm/page/212 212] |author-link=Robert Palmer (American writer)}}

In 1955, Below left Little Walter's band to concentrate on working as a session musician for Chess Records. However, he continued to play on Little Walter's records. He also played on hit records for Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Jimmy Rogers, Elmore James, Otis Rush, and Howlin' Wolf.

Below worked with bassist Willie Dixon, Little Walter, and guitarist Robert Lockwood, Jr. on John Brim's last single for Chess, "I Would Hate to See You Go" (1956).{{Cite web |title=Fred Below – Biography & History |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/fred-below-mn0000796396/biography |access-date=February 4, 2019 |website=AllMusic}}

Among his more famous work, he played on Chuck Berry's 1957 hit single "School Days" as well as on other Berry recording including "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" (1956), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Too Much Monkey Business" (1956), the calypso flavored, "Havana Moon" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957), "Sweet Little Sixteen" (1957), "Reelin' and Rockin'" (1957), "Guitar Boogie" (1957), "Memphis, Tennessee" (1958), "Sweet Little Rock and Roller" (1958), "Little Queenie" (1958), "Almost Grown" (1959), "Back in the U.S.A." (1959) and "Let It Rock" (1959).

Below rejoined the Myers brothers for a tour of Europe in 1970.Santelli, Robert (2001). The Big Book of Blues. Penguin Books. p. 3. {{ISBN|0-14-100145-3}}.

Below died of liver cancer on August 13, 1988, in Chicago, at the age of 61.

With Howlin' Wolf

• Live and Cookin' (Chess, 1972)

With Roosevelt Sykes

• Feel Like Blowing My Horn (Delmark, 1970 [1973])

With Sonny Boy Williamson

• The Real Folk Blues (Chess, 1947-64 [1966])

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.moderndrummer.com/article/september-1983-fred-magic-maker/ Fred Below — Magic Maker], an article of September 1983 by Scott K. Fish, which includes an in-depth interview with Fred Below, published in the Modern Drummer website (retrieved August 24, 2018)
• Recordings and transcripts of parts from [https://scottkfish.com/?s=Fred+Below some 1982 phone interviews with Fred Below], as published in Scott K. Fish's personal website

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Category:1926 births

Category:1988 deaths

Category:American session musicians

Category:American blues drummers

Category:Chicago blues musicians

Category:Rhythm and blues drummers

Category:Deaths from cancer in Illinois

Category:United States Army soldiers

Category:20th-century American drummers

Category:American male drummers

Category:United States Army Band musicians

Category:Deaths from liver cancer in the United States

Category:20th-century American male musicians

Category:Drummers from Chicago