From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

To comply with Wikipedia's quality standards, this article may need to be rewritten. Please help improve this article. The discussion page may contain suggestions.

Don Brewer (born September 3, 1948 in Flint, Michigan) is a drummer for American rock band Grand Funk Railroad. He came from Swartz Creek and graduated from Swartz Creek High School. Grand Funk, as they were later known, had a series of hit singles and platinum albums in the 1970s; the original members included Brewer (drums, vocals), Mark Farner (guitar, vocals), and Mel Schacher (bass). The band added Craig Frost to the lineup in 1974.

In 1974, Grand Funk released "We're An American Band". The title track, written by Brewer, was the band's first #1 single. Still popular, the song has since been recorded by other artists.

In addition to playing drums for Grand Funk, Brewer also supplied lead vocals for a number of songs, as evidenced by the first and third verses of the song "Some Kind Of Wonderful". ^[1] Brewer was the baritone lead singer for the group, in contrast to the tenor vocals of Mark Farner.

In 1977, following the initial breakup of Grand Funk, Brewer and former Grand Funk bandmates Schacher and Frost formed a new band, Flint. Flint released one self-titled album before disbanding.

In 1981, Brewer and Farner resurrected Grand Funk for an album that cracked the Billboard albums chart. Two years later, they split again and Brewer joined Bob Seger's Silver Bullet Band. He also continued in other musical endeavors, including producing for the band The Godz.

In 1996 Brewer, Schacher, and Farner reunited as Grand Funk, and were eventually named one of Pollstar's top-grossing acts of 1998. Farner decided to leave the band at the end of 1998 to resume his solo career. Brewer and Schacher added vocalist Max Carl, former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick and keyboardist Timothy Cashion to the line-up. The newest incarnation of Grand Funk Railroad debuted in 2000, and continues to tour regularly.

In 2000, Don performed as a guest clinician at Modern Drummer Magazine's annual Drum Festival event, where he was honored as one of the most influential drummers in the history of rock.

Don has currently rejoined the Silver Bullet Band for its 2006-07 tour, his first appearance since he played with it during its 1983 tour.

This article on a U.S. drummer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.