After a short illness, Fluke Holland died at his home in Tennessee at the age of 85 yesterday. I actually hired Fluke and his band to play at my Nashville Drum Show in 2009. He was a great drummer and a gentleman, he had a great band, and it is one of my most memorable concerts.
Fluke played drums behind Johnny Cash for over 40 years! The man put the beat to most of Johnny’s greatest recordings and his innovations in drumming inspired countless musicians around the world. WS, known by his nickname Fluke, began as a session player at Sun Records in Memphis and would you believe the second time he entered the studio was to cut a little song with Carl Perkins called “Blue Suede Shoes”? The song helped popularize Rockabilly Music and provided a great reputation for Fluke who stayed with Sun studios for a few years and recorded with Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Mann and his lifelong friend Charlie Rich. When Johnny asked Fluke to fill in for a few dates he said “yes” and stayed for over 40 years.
In his home Fluke had on display the drum kit he used for “Blue Suede Shoes” and in his rec room hanging end to end across the top of all four walls were the albums he recorded with Johnny Cash. He looked at them and said “Now that’s a career in music!”
Indeed it was!
He will sure be missed.