Graham Lear has garnered critical acclaim for his drumming worldwide. His roots in R&B, Rock, and Jazz were developed and honed through years of performing with musical giants such as Santana and Gino Vannelli, as well as a host of other equally talented musicians.
Canadian rock icon Neil Peart has acknowledged Lear as an influence, as has Mark Kelso, Head of Percussion Studies at Humber College, Toronto. Some highlights of a touring schedule that has taken him to almost every country in the world, Graham performed at the historic original Live Aid Concert (1985), Apple's US Festival in California (1982), Bill Graham's International Peace Walk in Moscow (1987) in addition to three appearances at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall, London, England. He is the 2010 recipient of the FCLMA Lifetime Achievement Award and was inducted into the FCLMA Hall of Fame in 2018.
Originally from Plymouth, England, Graham began drumming at age eight, auditioning for the Police Boys Concert Band of London, Canada. An early student of Police Band alumnus Don Johnson and Robert Comber, he also cites Canadian jazz great Terry Clarke and Mandela drummer Penti Glan as musical influences. Additional tutoring with Ralph Humphrey, Bernard Purdie, Duduka Da Fonseca, and Grove School of Music, culminated in the development of a unique style that is validated by the thousands of views of his drum solos on YouTube.
In 1974 Graham moved to Los Angeles with Canadian singer Gino Vannelli during which time the Grammy-nominated Powerful People and Storm At Sunup were recorded, and produced by A&M Records icon Herb Alpert. Significantly, drumming legend Buddy Rich covered two tracks from those sessions, Storm At Sunup and Love Me Now, for his Speak No Evil album. The critically acclaimed Vannelli recording, Gist Of the Gemini, followed, recorded by Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick at Air Studios UK. Carlos Santana, hearing Vannelli's recordings on his European tour bus, tasked manager Bill Graham with finding Lear to audition for his band. The rock impresario personally located Graham in Toronto rehearsing with guitarist Domenic Troiano, and within the month, Lear was performing before a sold-out Wembley stadium with Santana. Recordings from the ensuing European tour resulted in the double platinum album Moonflower for the group. 1987 found him with the rock group REO Speedwagon for their U.S. and South American tours and with the Canadian progressive group Saga for their European tours.
Relocated to Portland OR in 1990, Graham reunited with Gino Vannelli for his Yonder Tree CD on the Verve label, acclaimed by Gino as a personal favorite. The jazz project Clovis ensued with saxophonist Tom Bergeron of Western Oregon U. He also worked with Native American Music Award winner Gary Small and multiple live dates with Joe Cocker percussionist Bobby Torres and saxophonist Patrick Lamb. He also performed with the jazz/fusion ensemble Sacbe’ at the Berklee College Latin Cultural Festival in Boston. Graham has been featured in two articles for Modern Drummer, Drums and Perc., Drums Etc., and Sticks magazine and performed clinics at Musicians Institute of Los Angeles, Frankfurt, Toronto, St. Louis, and Tampa.
His passion for music has always been R&B and jazz, having performed at the inaugural Niagara on the Lake Jazz Festival in 2014, with three more in recent years.