"Fast" Eddie Hoh

Eddie Hoh
Hoh in early 1966
Background information
Also known as	"Fast" Eddie Hoh
Born	October 16, 1944
Origin	Forest Park, Illinois
Died	November 7, 2015(2015-11-07) (aged 71) Westmont, Illinois
Genres	Folk rock, blues rock, country rock, pop rock, psychedelic rock
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Drums
Years active	1964–1970

Edward "Eddie" Hoh (October 16, 1944 – November 7, 2015) was an American rock drummer who was active in the 1960s. Although primarily a studio session and touring drummer, Hoh exhibited a degree of originality and showmanship that set him apart and several of his contributions have been singled out for acknowledgment by music critics.

Often uncredited and unknown to audiences, he played the drums on several well-known rock songs and albums, including those by Donovan and the Monkees. He also performed at the seminal 1967 Monterey Pop Festival as a member of the Mamas and the Papas touring band. In 1968, he participated in the recording of Super Session, the highly successful 1968 Mike Bloomfield/Al Kooper/Stephen Stills collaboration album. However, his flurry of activity came to an end by the early 1970s and he remained out of the public eye until his death in 2015.

Hoh grew up in Forest Park, Illinois, where he graduated from Proviso East High School in 1963. He moved to Los Angeles and in 1964 became known on the club circuit as a drummer for the Joel Scott Hill groups the Strangers and the Invaders. Hill recorded several singles and the Strangers were an opening act for the 1964 T.A.M.I. Show, headlined by the Rolling Stones and James Brown. However, they did not appear in the concert film and it is unknown if Hoh recorded with Hill.

In September 1965, Hoh joined members of the Modern Folk Quartet as the group was venturing into electric folk rock.Jerry Yester, Cyrus Faryar, Henry "Tad" Diltz, and Chip Douglas made up the quartet and each became involved in various aspects of the music industry and Hoh's career. The group was renamed the Modern Folk Quintet (usually shortened to MFQ), and Phil Spector decided to become their producer. Despite a lot of time spent with Spector in rehearsals and recording at Gold Star Studios, only one song came out of their association, "This Could Be the Night". To the group's dismay, it was not issued as a single, but was used as the theme to the The Big T.N.T. Show, the 1966 follow-up concert film to the T.A.M.I. Show. In March 1966, MFQ recorded a single for Dunhill Records, produced by Spector associate Jack Nitzsche. The song "Night Time Girl", written by Al Kooper and Irwin Levine, reached number 122 on Billboard magazine's Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles on April 16, 1966. A second Dunhill MFQ single, the double A-side "Don't You Wonder" backed with "I Had a Dream Last Night", was released in 1968, but Hoh's participation is unknown. The MFQ were a fixture on the Los Angeles club scene and opened for such groups as the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Donovan, the Byrds, Mamas and the Papas, and the Velvet Underground. They undertook a college tour across the U.S., however, a breakthrough eluded them and they disbanded by July 1966.