The Georgia native backed Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gaye, before defining the disco era.

Innovative disco drummer and percussionist, Hamilton Bohannon, has died. He was 78 years old.

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According to Newnan Times-Herald, Bohannan passed in his hometown of undisclosed causes on Friday, April 24th. Funeral arrangements are still pending.

Born in Newnan, Georgia, Bohannon developed as a percussionist and drummer in local circuits, occasionally heading north to nearby Atlanta for gigs. But he landed in Detroit after a chance run-in with Stevie Wonder while backing Gorgeous George and a young Jimi Hendrix on tour, joining Wonder's band as a drummer in the mid-60s. At the request of the Motown sensation, Bohannon packed his bags for The Motor City, quickly becoming a fixture in the touring bands of Wonder, The Four Tops, The Supremes, and Marvin Gaye.

When Barry Gordy relocated the label to Los Angeles in 1972, Bohannon stayed back and took up the reigns as bandleader at the legendary 20 Grand Club. Splitting time between running the 20 Grand band and studying to become a music teacher, Bohannon managed to record a batch of demos in Detroit, shopping them to labels as his studies continued. In 1973, he was signed to Brunswick, who released his debut solo album, Stop & Go, on their Dakar imprint.

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Between 1973 and 1980, Bohannon released 12 studio albums with Dakar and Mercury Records, adding four more on his own Phase II Records in the early-80s. And in the following decades, his music would be repurposed by hip-hop's most celebrated samplers, including J Dilla, Doug E. Fresh, and DJ Clark Kent.