The Tornados drummer Clem Cattini dies — one of Britain's most-recorded session musicians

Clem Cattini has died at the age of 89. He was a co-founder of The Tornados, whose instrumental track Telstar topped the UK chart for five weeks in 1962, and the band became the first British act to reach number one on the American Billboard Hot 100. Fellow musicians are posting tributes.

Aziz KarimovFirst published on tafs uz 5 November 2026 at 04:142 min read

The key facts

Clem Cattini has died at the age of 89; he lived in Hertfordshire
As a member of The Tornados he recorded Telstar (1962), the first British number one in the US
As a session drummer he took part in dozens of hits, including recordings by Tom Jones, Dusty Springfield and Tony Christie

Death of the musician and reactions from colleagues

Drummer Clem Cattini, who lived in Hertfordshire, has died at the age of 89. BBC News reported his death, citing condolences from fellow musicians. Tony Christie, on Facebook, called Cattini «a world-class musician and a world-class gentleman» and noted that he «played on more number-one records than any other British drummer». Carl Palmer of Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Asia said: «Drummers across the UK owe you so much for opening the door for all of us». The band The Equals, who topped the chart in 1968 with the song Baby Come Back, called Cattini «a true force of percussion and one of the most prolific drummers in the history of British recording».

Career: from Telstar to session work

Cattini, born in August 1937 in the London district of Stoke Newington to Italian parents, became a co-founder of The Tornados in 1961. Their instrumental track Telstar spent five weeks at number one on the UK chart in 1962, and the band became the first British act to top the American Billboard Hot 100. As a session musician, Cattini took part in recordings of number-one hits: Tom Jones's Green, Green Grass of Home, Dusty Springfield's You Don't Have To Say You Love Me and Tony Christie's (Is This the Way to) Amarillo?. Among his other works are Engelbert Humperdinck's Release Me, Love Affair's Everlasting Love and Johnny Kidd & The Pirates' Shakin' All Over, as well as recordings with Paul Weller, The Kinks and The Wombles. He played on all 11 tracks of the album Thrillington — an instrumental version of Paul and Linda McCartney's record Ram, released by McCartney under the pseudonym Percy «Thrills» Thrillington. Cattini toured with Cliff Richard and Roy Orbison, appeared on television with the orchestra of the Top Of The Pops programme, and in the 2008 film Telstar about The Tornados producer Joe Meek, his role was played by James Corden.