Chester Thompson

Chester Thompson
Chester playing with Genesis during the Turn It On Again Tour (2007)
Background information
Born	December 11, 1948 (1948-12-11) (age 61) Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Genres	Progressive rock Pop rock Jazz fusion
Instruments	Drums
Years active	1973-present
Associated acts	Genesis, Phil Collins, Steve Hackett, Frank Zappa, Weather Report, Era
Website	chesterthompson.com

Chester Cortez Thompson (born December 11, 1948 in Baltimore, Maryland) 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 and Roxy & Elsewhere.

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. He chose not to be involved in the band's Calling All Stations tour, following the band's failure to invite him to join the studio band following Phil Collins's departure.

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 and The Final Farewell tour of 2004/05. Chester also 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 Watcher of the Skies: Genesis Revisited. Later on, he played on Tony Banks' solo album A Curious Feeling. He also appears on The Tokyo Tapes album released in 1998 which features Steve Hackett and John Wetton amongst many others. He was also a founding member of the band Fire Merchants with Brand X guitarist John Goodsall and bassist Doug Lunn and appeared on their first recording in 1989.

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 Ludwig Drums (1970-March, 1977), Pearl Drums (April, 1977 - July, 1987), Sonor Drums (1990 - 1999) and Paiste cymbals (1970 - 90), but now endorses DW drums since 2000 and Sabian cymbals since 1990.

External links

• The Official Chester Thompson site
• World of Genesis - Chester Thompson Biography
• World of Genesis - World of Genesis.com 2002 Chester Thompson Interview
• Drummerworld: Chester Thompson
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