Virtuoso percussionist Tommy Wells was a fixture on Nashville's music scene for more than 35 years.



Raised in Michigan, Tommy Wells attended the Berklee College of Music before returning to Detroit to play rock and R&B music. He moved to Nashville in 1977, and quickly found work on sessions and on Nashville stages.



A drummer since the age of eleven, Tommy Wells approached recording sessions and live sets with a veteran's certainty and a rookie's verve.



Tommy Wells performed and/or recorded with the likes of Ricky Van Shelton, Foster and Lloyd, Michael Martin Murphy, Ray Stevens, Don McLean, Gene Cotton, RPM, Jo-el Sonnier, Holly Dunn, The Statler Brothers, Roy Clark, Jonathon Edwards, Jimmy Hall, Charlie Daniels, Poter Wagoner, Lynn Anderson, Charley Pride, Dan Seals, B.J. Thomas, Riders in the Sky and Kathy Mattea, and numerous others.



Besides working with Jimmy Hall and The Prisoners of Love for the past 30 years, Tommy Wells was more recently involved with recording and playing with award winning Western Swing artist, Carolyn Martin.



Tommy Wells' televised appearances include Nashville Now, Music City Tonight, Midnight Special, Carson, Dinah Shore, and was regularly seen on Prime Time Country. Besides other TV credits, Wells can be heard on a long list of commercial jingles from the past three decades.



As an educator, Tommy Wells - along with Nashville legend Jerry Kroon - taught a class entitled Studio Drummer's Workshop, with such alumni as Billy Mason, Rich Redmond and Chris Brown.



Tommy Wells died of a brain aneurysm on September 24, 2013 at age 62.