Joe English

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Drummer Joe English

Joe English (born February 7, 1949) is an American musician who, during the 1970s, played drums in Paul McCartney's band Wings and in the Southern Rock/Jazz group Sea Level, among others.

A native of Rochester, New York, Joe was a member of Jam Factory, a band based in Syracuse, that evolved into Tall Dogs Orchestra, Macon, Georgia. Searching for an opportunity to expand his talent, he answered an ad for a drummer. The address led him to the basement of an old building where, much to his surprise, he found himself face to face with Paul McCartney. The audition was for Wings, and Joe got the job. His first album with Wings was Venus and Mars and, one album later, he would even take the lead vocals for the song, "Must Do Something About It" from Wings at the Speed of Sound. He was the drummer on the Wings Over the World tour.

Eventually, by September 1977, part of the way through the sessions for London Town, English became disenchanted with Wings and moved to Macon, Georgia, where he began his stint with Chuck Leavell's band Sea Level.

Following his Christian salvation experience, he formed the Joe English Band, with himself as the lead singer and drummer. The Joe English Band toured the world, playing with other major Christian bands of the era—Petra, DeGarmo & Key, Servant, etc. Joe's band recorded a release without Joe's vocals called AKA. The band included John Lawry, who left to play for Petra in 1984. In 1986, Joe played in former Petra vocalist Greg X. Volz's band, Pieces of Eight. In the late 1980s, English would join Randy Stonehill, Phil Keaggy, Rick Cua and others as part of the Compassion All Star Band. In 1988, the band recorded live "One by One", their only album together.