Robert Searight
{{Short description|American musician}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Robert Searight
| image = Robert "Sput" Searight of Snarky Puppy playing at musig-im-pflegidach - crop1.jpg
| caption = Searight in 2015
| image_upright = 1.2
| landscape = yes
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1975|03|18}}
| birth_place = Dallas, Texas, United States
| origin = Dallas
| alias = Robert Searight II
| instrument = Drums, piano, keyboards
| label = Independent
| genre = {{flatlist|
}}
| occupation = {{flatlist|
- Musician
- composer
- producer
}}
| years_active = c. 1996–present
| current_member_of = {{flatlist|
}}
| past_member_of = Toto
| website =
}}
Robert "Sput" Searight (born March 18, 1975) is an American drummer, composer and producer best known for his work with jazz fusion band Snarky Puppy and as co-founder of the percussion-based band Ghost-Note. His background spans several genres including jazz, funk, hip-hop and gospel. He has toured and recorded with a variety of artists including Kirk Franklin, Snoop Dogg, Justin Timberlake, Erykah Badu and Toto. He has received a Grammy Award for his production work on the album God's Property.
Life and career
Searight was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. He grew up in a musical family with a variety of instruments in his childhood home. His mother, Linda Searight, was an operatic singer and music teacher. He received his first drum kit at the age of five and started playing drums. He grew up listening to gospel music exclusively, but that changed at age eight with access to a diverse library of vinyl albums. He started taking music lessons in junior high school and, later, attended Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing Arts, where he played piano and received his first exposure to improvisation in the arts. He names gospel drummer Joel Smith as his biggest early influence.
In 1992, while in high school, Searight and his mother Linda founded the gospel choir God's Property. He studied jazz-piano and drums in junior college and then attended University of North Texas and majored in percussion. Soon after, in 1997, God's Property and Kirk Franklin collaborated to produce the eponymous album God's Property, for which Searight won a Grammy award in the category Best Gospel Choir or Chorus Album. He started touring extensively in support of the album and settled in Los Angeles. There, he worked as a drummer and producer with a variety of artists, including Snoop Dogg, Justin Timberlake, Kendrick Lamar and Timbaland.
In mid-2000s Searight moved back to Dallas and performed in the Dallas R&B-gospel music scene, working with Erykah Badu, Tamela Mann, The Clark Sisters and others. In weekly jam sessions he met members of the jazz fusion band Snarky Puppy, at the time a Dallas-based band. Around 2006, he joined Snarky Puppy, first as a keyboardist and then as a drummer. He has received three Grammys with the ensemble.{{efn|name=sp-grammys}} In 2014, Searight and Snarky Puppy percussionist Nate Werth founded Ghost-Note, a percussion-based funk-hip hop-jazz band. He has released three albums with Ghost-Note, Fortified in 2015, Swagism in 2018, and Mustard n' Onions in 2024. From 2020 to 2023, he joined Toto as the band's drummer and toured with the band.
Discography
- Fortified (2015)
- Swagism (2018)
- Mustard n' Onions (2024)
With Snarky Puppy
- Bring Us the Bright (2008)
- Tell Your Friends (2010)
- GroundUP (2012)
- Family Dinner – Volume 1 (2013)
- Sylva with Metropole Orkest (2015)
- Family Dinner – Volume 2 (2016)
- Culcha Vulcha (2016)
With Toto
- With a Little Help from My Friends (2021)
With others
- Live in Concert (2001) with Kim Burrell
- Dorinda Clark Cole (2002) with Dorinda Clark-Cole
- Out the Box (2004) with Tonéx
Session and production credits selected works
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Artist
! class="unsortable"|Album |
|---|
| Kirk Franklin
|
|
| Kendrick Lamar
|
|
| Shaun Martin
|
|
| Bill Laurance
|
|
| Terrace Martin
|
|
| Kamasi Washington
|
|
| Myron Butler & Levi
|
|
| Tamela Mann
|
|
| Marvin Sapp
|
|
| Ted Winn
|
|
Notes
{{notelist|30em|refs=
{{efn|name=sp-grammys|Searight is credited for Grammy Awards for the song "Something" and albums Sylva and Culcha Vulcha.}}
}}
References
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em|refs=
{{cite magazine|url=https://www.moderndrummer.com/article/april-2013-snarky-puppys-robert-sput-searight/|title=Snarky Puppy's Robert 'Sput' Searight|author=Ken Micallef|magazine=Modern Drummer|date=April 2013|accessdate=May 15, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812043747/https://www.moderndrummer.com/article/april-2013-snarky-puppys-robert-sput-searight/|archive-date=August 12, 2020|url-status=live}}
{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x57vGzrMv00|title=Interview: Robert 'Sput' Searight of Snarky Puppy|author=Nick D'Virgilio|publisher=Sweetwater|date=March 20, 2018|type=Video|time=7:25–9:00, 9:50–12:10, 14:47–15:25, 16:40–17:10|via=YouTube|access-date=May 15, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220515202552/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x57vGzrMv00|archive-date=May 15, 2022|url-status=live}}
- {{cite news|url=https://www.dallasnews.com/arts-entertainment/music/2020/10/20/toto-adds-dallas-drummer-robert-sput-searight-to-its-lineup/|title=Toto adds Dallas drummer Robert 'Sput' Searight to its lineup|author=Jeremy Hallock|work=The Dallas Morning News|date=October 20, 2020|accessdate=May 16, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211118194739/https://www.dallasnews.com/arts-entertainment/music/2020/10/20/toto-adds-dallas-drummer-robert-sput-searight-to-its-lineup/|archive-date=November 18, 2021|url-status=live}}
- {{cite web|url=https://themusicuniverse.com/toto-announces-dogz-oz-world-tour-2022/|title=TOTO announces Dogz of Oz World Tour 2022|author=Buddy Iahn|website=themusicuniverse|date=November 30, 2021|accessdate=May 19, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211202003438/https://themusicuniverse.com/toto-announces-dogz-oz-world-tour-2022/|archive-date=December 2, 2021|url-status=live}}
- {{cite web|url=https://www.connectsavannah.com/music-and-clubs/toto-back-together-for-tour-grateful-for-new-fans-19885983|title=TOTO: Back together for tour, grateful for new fans|author=Alan Sculley |website=connectsavannah|date=February 7, 2023|accessdate=May 15, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240516010047/https://www.connectsavannah.com/music-and-clubs/toto-back-together-for-tour-grateful-for-new-fans-19885983|archive-date=May 16, 2024|url-status=live}}
}}
External links
- {{Twitter|sputacular}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20200807214000/https://www.moderndrummer.com/article/september-2016-snarkypuppys-holy-trinity/ Snarky Puppy drummers: Interview and gear], Modern Drummer magazine, 2016
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Searight, Robert}}
Category:American jazz drummers
Category:American funk drummers
Category:Rhythm and blues drummers
Category:American session musicians
Category:American male drummers
Category:Songwriters from Texas
Category:21st-century American drummers
Category:21st-century American male musicians
Category:American male songwriters
Category:African-American drummers