Ed Shaughnessy | 'Tonight Show' drummer, 84
Ed Shaughnessy, 84, the jazz drummer who for nearly three decades anchored the rhythm section of Doc Severinsen's Tonight Show band died Friday of a heart attack at his home in Calabasas, outside Los Angeles, said family friend William Selditz.
Ed Shaughnessy, 84, the jazz drummer who for nearly three decades anchored the rhythm section of Doc Severinsen's Tonight Show band died Friday of a heart attack at his home in Calabasas, outside Los Angeles, said family friend William Selditz.
Mr. Shaughnessy, a New Jersey native, began his jazz career as a teenager, playing with Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, and Count Basie. He replaced Buddy Rich in Tommy Dorsey's band. In the mid-1950s, Mr. Shaughnessy became a staff musician at CBS.
From 1963 to 1992, he was a late-night-television fixture as part of the house band on Johnny Carson's show. - AP