Tony Thompson was born on November 15, 1954, in New York City. His work with Chic and The Power Station joined two sides of his playing: the discipline to keep a dance groove moving and the force to make drums a rock record’s main attraction.
Thompson came to Chic with a taste for rock and fusion and plenty of technique. Guitarist Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards pushed him to concentrate on time, stripping away fills and insisting on a steady backbeat. In a May 1985 interview with One Two Testing, he credited Edwards with teaching him to lock into the rhythm. The restrictions gave him somewhere else to put his imagination: the hi-hat, where small variations could animate an otherwise spare part. “You don’t dance to paradiddles,” he told the magazine. His point was practical: technique had to serve the song.
That approach helped shape Chic recordings including “Le Freak” and “Good Times,” but Thompson also wanted room to play the rock music he loved. David Bowie gave him that opportunity on the 1983 album Let’s Dance and the Serious Moonlight tour. Thompson told International Musician & Recording World in October 1985 that he had overheard Bowie discussing the tour after finishing his album parts and put himself forward for the job. Once on the road, he relished playing hard night after night.
The Power Station brought that side of Thompson into a band with Duran Duran bassist John Taylor and guitarist Andy Taylor. Robert Palmer completed the lineup, although the project hadn’t begun with a singer in place. In a 1985 interview with journalist Bob Andelman, Thompson recalled that tracks were already taking shape in New York and London when John contacted Palmer. Thompson initially had reservations about bringing him in. He remembered Palmer arriving at the studio and immediately singing the material, turning that uncertainty into enthusiasm. The quartet recorded the 1985 album The Power Station, with Edwards producing.
“Some Like It Hot” put Thompson’s drums at the center of the arrangement. Looking back in a 2002 interview with Modern Drummer, he emphasized the combination of a Yamaha kit, a lively room and the way he struck the drums. “I hit the drums very hard. That’s it!” he said. The single reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving that approach a substantial pop audience.
The partnership with Palmer and Edwards continued on Palmer’s Riptide. For “Addicted to Love,” recorded at Compass Point in the Bahamas, engineer Jason Corsaro went further in shaping the drum sound. Thompson recalled a tube extending from his bass drum into a hallway and up the stairs. The elaborate setup supported a deliberately simple groove, with Thompson concentrating on how his part fitted the other musicians. The record reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1986.
Thompson returned to The Power Station for its second studio album, 1996’s Living in Fear. After John Taylor withdrew, Edwards played bass, putting the Chic rhythm partners together again behind Palmer and Andy Taylor. Thompson also shared writing credits on songs including “Notoriety” and “She Can Rock It,” extending his contribution to the band beyond the drum parts.
