Born: November 15, 1954
Place of Birth: New York, NY
Died: November 12, 2003
Zodiac Sign: Scorpio
Anthony Terrence Thompson was an American session drummer best known as the drummer of the Power Station and a member of Chic.
Thompson was raised in the middle-class community of Springfield Gardens in Queens, New York. His mother was Trinidadian, and his father was of Antiguan descent.
Thompson first drummed for the group Labelle and then, for a short while, was a member of the soul/disco band Ecstasy, Passion & Pain. This was followed by a long tenure with Chic, where he helped create hits such as "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)," "Le Freak," and "Good Times." He also performed with members of Chic on "We Are Family," "He's the Greatest Dancer" by Sister Sledge, "Upside Down" and "I'm Coming Out" by Diana Ross.
Following the temporary disbanding of Chic in 1983, Chic's former guitarists and bassists, Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, became prolific producers, and Thompson's drumming was much in demand among their clients. Thompson appeared with numerous artists such as Jody Watley, Madonna (on her 1984 album Like a Virgin), Rod Stewart, Robert Palmer, and David Bowie.
Thompson was also a member of The Power Station band along with Robert Palmer, John Taylor, and Andy Taylor of Duran Duran. The Live Aid charity benefit concert in 1985 saw Thompson filling in and playing with the Power Station and joining the remaining Led Zeppelin members on stage (along with Phil Collins) at John F. Kennedy Stadium. Page, Plant, and Jones then invited Thompson to England for rehearsals for a Led Zeppelin reunion, which was canceled by Jimmy Page after Thompson was severely injured in a car crash.
He joined groups such as the Distance and Crown of Thorns with Jean Beauvoir (playing on their first album, Crown of Thorns, before leaving the band and being replaced by Hawk Lopez). Thompson was also a founding member of the crew That Hideous Strength. In the mid 1990s he rejoined Power Station for their 1996 reunion album Living in Fear and subsequent tour. Thompson's final project was called Non-Toxic, which he formed with bassist Michael Paige (Crown of Thorns) and guitarist Dave Scott; Thompson died before finishing the project's first album.
He played with David Bowie on the Serious Moonlight Tour.
Three days before his 49th birthday, Thompson died on November 12, 2003, in Los Angeles, within a month of being diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma (kidney cancer) and two months after the death of The Power Station bandmate Robert Palmer from a heart attack. Thompson was a member of the band Non-Toxic at the time of his death. He was survived by his wife, two children, and his sister, Cookie. On September 19, 2005, like his former band member Bernard Edwards, Thompson was honored posthumously along with the rest of the Chic band members by being inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame.
Thompson was a very influential drummer. Rock musician Dave Grohl admitted to being heavily inspired by him.