Layne Redmond

Layne Redmond (August 19, 1952 – October 28, 2013) was an American drummer, frame drum expert, writer, teacher, historian, and mythologist.Drum maker Remo created a frame drum designed by Redmond as their first Signature Series product.The February 2000 issue of Drum! listed Redmond as one of the 53 Heavyweight Drummers Who Made A Difference in the 1990s, where she is ranked among such musicians as Tony Williams, Roy Haynes, Zakir Hussain, Elvin Jones and Mickey Hart. She is the only woman on this list, and she is the only drummer on the list whose work focuses on the spiritual and healing dimensions of drumming and rhythm. Redmond's path focuses on the hand-held frame drum, the world's oldest known drum. For fifteen years, she researched the history of this drum in religious and healing rites in the ancient Mediterranean world culminating in her 1997 book, When the Drummers Were Women. The book details a lost history of a time when women were the primary percussionists in the ancient world and also explains why they are not today. In the summer of 2013, Redmond entered a hospice.