Omar Hakim

Omar Hakim (born February 12, 1959) is an American drummer, producer, arranger and composer. His session work covers jazz, jazz fusion, and pop music. He has worked with Weather Report, David Bowie, Foo Fighters, Chic, Sting, Madonna, Dire Straits, Bryan Ferry, Journey, Kate Bush, George Benson, Miles Davis, Daft Punk, Mariah Carey, the Pussycat Dolls, David Lee Roth, Celine Dion, and Thundercat.

Hakim was born in New York City on February 12, 1959. His father, Hasaan Hakim, was a trombonist. Omar started playing the drums at the age of five, and first performed in his father's band four or five years later.

Hakim first came to major attention backing Carly Simon in 1980, and joined Weather Report in 1982. He played drums on David Bowie's most commercially successful album, 1983's Let's Dance, as well as the follow-up, Tonight, in 1984. Bowie described Hakim as "a fascinating drummer, with impeccable timing" and "always fresh in his approach".

At the end of 1984, Hakim joined Dire Straits as drummer while recording their fifth album Brothers in Arms. Hakim temporarily replaced the band's then-permanent drummer Terry Williams, when his performance was felt to be unsuitable for the desired sound of the album after most of the album tracks had been recorded. Hakim re-recorded all the drum tracks on the album within three days and then left for other commitments. Hakim and Williams are both credited on the album, however all of the drumming on the final album was performed by Hakim with the exception of the improvised crescendo at the beginning of “Money for Nothing”.

Hakim was also part of the band for Sting's album The Dream of the Blue Turtles, which was released in June 1985.

"By this time, Hakim was teaching himself to program drum machines, which put him in even greater demand as a pop, rock, and R&B session musician, and landed him work with Madonna." He kept working in jazz fusion, playing with Roy Ayers, George Benson, Miles Davis, Lee Ritenour, Joe Sample, David Sanborn, and John Scofield across the 1980s and 1990s. His debut album as leader, Rhythm Deep, was released in 1989, also featured his singing, and was nominated for a Grammy Award.