Questlove

Ahmir Khalib Thompson (born January 20, 1971), known professionally as Questlove (stylized as ?uestlove), is an American percussionist, multi-instrumentalist, DJ, music journalist, record producer, and occasional actor. He is best known as the drummer and joint frontman (with Black Thought) for the Grammy Award-winning band The Roots. The Roots have been serving as the in-house band for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon since February 17, 2014, as they have for the entire run of the show under Jimmy Fallon. Questlove is also one of the producers of the Broadway musical Hamilton. He is the cofounder of Okayplayer and OkayAfrica. Additionally, he is an adjunct instructor at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University.\n', ' Questlove has produced recordings for artists including Elvis Costello, Common, D\'Angelo, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Bilal, Jay-Z, Nikka Costa, and more recently, Al Green, Amy Winehouse, and John Legend. He is a member of the production teams the Soulquarians, The Randy Watson Experience, The Soultronics, The Beat Biters (with producers Just Blaze and 9th Wonder), The Grand Negaz, and The Grand Wizzards.\n', ' Ahmir Khalib Thompson was born into a musical family in Philadelphia on January 20, 1971. His father was Arthur Lee Andrews Thompson, from Goldsboro, North Carolina, and went north in the Great Migration. A singer, he became known as Lee Andrews and was lead with Lee Andrews & the Hearts, a 50s doo-wop group. Ahmir\'s grandfather Beachy Thompson had sung with the gospel group, The Dixie Hummingbirds. Ahmir\'s mother, Jacquelin Thompson, together with his father, was also part of the Philadelphia-based soul group Congress Alley.[citation needed] His parents did not want to leave the boy with babysitters, so they took him on tour with them. He grew up in backstages of doo-wop shows. By the age of seven, Thompson began drumming on stage at shows, and by 13, had become a musical director.\n', '