Early Musical Career
At age twelve, Moon joined his local Sea Cadet Corps band as a bugle player but traded his position to be a drummer. He started to play the drums at age fourteen after his father bought him a drum kit. Moon took lessons from one of the loudest drummers at the time, Carlo Little, paying Little ten shillings a lesson. During this time, Moon joined his first serious band, The Escorts. From late 1962 until the spring of 1964, he played drums for The Beachcombers, a London cover band notable for renditions of songs by Cliff Richard.
Moon initially played in the drumming style of American surf rock and jazz, with a mix of R&B, utilising grooves and fills of those genres, particularly Hal Blaine of Wrecking Crew. However, Moon played faster and louder, with more persistence and authority. Moon's favourite musicians were jazz artists Gene Krupa and Sonny Rollins.
Moon also enjoyed singing, particularly giving backing vocals that involved a light-sounding falsetto, and he adored the vocal styling of Motown soul music.
Read more about this topic: Keith Moon
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