Clem Cattini dies aged 89: Telstar drummer who played on over 40 number ones

4th November 2026

Updated 4 Nov 2026, 20:15 · First published 4 Nov 2026

A drummer playing a professional drum kit in a studio — Illustrative image. Photo: ERIK Miheyeu / Shutterstock

Clem Cattini, the London-born drummer who played on more UK number one singles than almost anyone in British pop history, has died aged 89.

Tributes have been pouring in from the stars he worked with. Tony Christie, whose (Is This the Way to) Amarillo he played on, called him “a world class musician but also a world class gentleman”.

Clem Cattini: the key facts
🎂 Born 28 August 1937 in Stoke Newington, north London, to Italian parents
🥁 Founder member of The Tornados in 1961
🚀 Played on Telstar, five weeks at UK No 1 and the first US No 1 by a British group
🏆 Drummed on more than 40 UK number one singles
🏡 Lived in Hertfordshire

From Shakin’ All Over to Telstar

Cattini first made his name with Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, playing on the 1960 classic Shakin’ All Over. A year later he co-founded The Tornados with producer Joe Meek.

Their space-age instrumental Telstar spent five weeks at the top of the UK chart in 1962 and made The Tornados the first British group to reach No 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100, more than a year before The Beatles.

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Telstar by The Tornados, with Clem Cattini on drums: five weeks at No 1 in 1962.

The sound behind the hits

After The Tornados, Cattini became one of the busiest session drummers of the 1960s and 70s. His drumming can be heard on Tom Jones’ Green, Green Grass of Home, Dusty Springfield’s You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me, Engelbert Humperdinck’s Release Me and Love Affair’s Everlasting Love.

He also recorded with The Kinks, Paul Weller and The Wombles, toured with Cliff Richard and Roy Orbison, and played on every track of Thrillington, Paul McCartney’s instrumental version of the album Ram.

He was famously on Jimmy Page’s shortlist of drummers for a new band in 1968. The band became Led Zeppelin and the job went to John Bonham.

“Drummers across the UK owe you a lot”

Carl Palmer of Emerson, Lake & Palmer said drummers across the country “owe you a lot”. The Equals called him “an absolute legend who leaves behind an incredible musical legacy”.

In the 2008 film Telstar, about Joe Meek, Cattini was played by James Corden.

Sources: BBC News via Yahoo, Tony Christie, The Equals and Carl Palmer on Facebook, Wikipedia.