1. Questlove is the drummer and joint frontman for the hip-hop band the Roots.
37 Facts About Questlove
1. 2.
Questlove is one of the producers of the 2015 cast album of the Broadway musical Hamilton.
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Questlove joined Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University as an adjunct professor in 2016, and hosts the podcast Questlove Supreme.
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Questlove has produced recordings for artists including Elvis Costello, Common, D'Angelo, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Bilal, Jay-Z, Nikka Costa, Booker T Jones, Al Green, and John Legend.
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Questlove has been a member of the Soulquarians, the Randy Watson Experience, the Soultronics, the Grand Negaz and the Grand Wizzards.
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Questlove is the recipient of many accolades, including an Academy Award, six Grammy Awards and a BAFTA Award.
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Questlove's father was Arthur Lee Andrews Thompson, from Goldsboro, North Carolina.
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Questlove's parents did not want to leave him with babysitters so they took him with them when they were on tour.
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When he was 7 years old, Questlove helped prepare his father's performance outfits and when he was 10, he operated stage lights for his father's performances.
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At age 12, Questlove filled in as a drummer for his father's band, debuting as a performer at the Radio City Music Hall.
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Questlove's parents enrolled him at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts.
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Questlove's DNA revealed from both of his biological parents that he is of West African descent, specifically the Mende people.
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Questlove is the only guest to have appeared on Gates's program to be descended from slaves known by name, ship, and where they came from in Africa.
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Questlove served as executive producer for Mos Def's 1999 album Black on Both Sides, D'Angelo's 2000 album Voodoo, Slum Village's album Fantastic, Vol.
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Questlove played drums on Christina Aguilera's song "Loving Me 4 Me" for her 2002 album Stripped.
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Questlove arranged and drummed on Joss Stone's cover of the White Stripes' "Fell in Love with a Girl".
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In 2005, Questlove appeared along with performers including Madonna, Iggy Pop, Bootsy Collins, and Little Richard in a television commercial for the Motorola ROKR phone.
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In 2006, Questlove appeared in the film Dave Chappelle's Block Party, as well as a couple of skits on Chappelle's Show.
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Questlove was given an Esky for Best Scribe in Esquire magazine's 2006 Esky Music Awards in the April issue.
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In 2006, Questlove was one of a handful of musicians hand-picked by Steve Van Zandt to back Hank Williams Jr.
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In 2007, Questlove co-produced with VH1's The Score winning producer Antonio "DJ Satisfaction" Gonzalez, from the Maniac Agenda, the theme to VH1's Hip Hop Honors 2007.
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Questlove joined Ben Harper and John Paul Jones for the Bonnaroo SuperJam on June 16,2007, to play a 97-minute set.
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Questlove continues to perform with the Roots on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, continuing his duties from Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
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Questlove has been featured in a commercial for Microsoft's short-lived mobile phone, the Kin.
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Questlove contributed drums to the song "You Got a Lot to Learn", which was recorded for the self-titled third studio album by Evanescence, but did not appear on the final release.
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Questlove was planning to collaborate with Amy Winehouse before her death in July 2011.
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In September 2016, Questlove launched a weekly radio show on Pandora, Questlove Supreme.
28.
In 2019, Questlove Supreme moved from Pandora to iHeart Radio, where it still continues to this day.
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In 2019, Questlove partnered with Black Thought of The Roots to executive produce the documentary series Hip-Hop: The Songs That Shook America under their production company, Two One Five Entertainment.
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Questlove served as the musical director and in-house DJ of the 2021 Academy Awards ceremony, having previously served as the in-house DJ for the 2020 ceremony.
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In 2023, Questlove executive produced Sam Pollard's The League, a documentary centered on Negro league baseball.
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Questlove will make his feature film directing debut with a live-action hybrid reimagining of The Aristocats for Walt Disney Studios.
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In 2007, Questlove provided the foreword for the book Check the Technique.
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On October 22,2013, Harper Design published the Questlove-written book, Soul Train: The Music, Dance, and Style of a Generation.
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Questlove released his third book, Something to Food About: Exploring Creativity with Innovative Chefs, along with co-author Ben Greenman and photographer Kyoko Hamada, which was published by Clarkson Potter Books on April 12,2016.
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In 2018, Questlove curated the soundtrack The Michelle Obama Musiaqualogy for Michelle Obama's memoir Becoming.
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Questlove wrote an essay for the book included in the super deluxe edition of the Beatles album Revolver, released in October 2022.