LAMAMIMET

David Wayne Perkins was born on September 6, 1951, in Birmingham, Alabama, the eldest of six children in a musical family. He taught himself guitar at age twelve and began playing professionally as a teenager, landing his first session gig at fifteen. By his late teens Perkins was a regular session guitarist at Muscle Shoals, contributing to recordings for artists such as Dee Dee Warwick, Ronnie Milsap, Joe Cocker and Leon Russell. His versatile style blended rock, R&B and soul, earning him a reputation as one of the South’s most in‑demand players. In the early 1970s he co‑founded the band Smith Perkins Smith, which became Island Records’ first American act and toured Europe alongside groups like Free and Fairport Convention. While in London he was recruited by Chris Blackwell to add lead‑guitar overdubs to Bob Marley’s seminal 1973 album Catch the Fire. Perkins later worked with Joni Mitchell on her 1974 album Court and Spark, providing the distinctive guitar on “Car on a Hill,” and spent two years in Leon Russell’s Shelter People band, where he befriended Eric Clapton. Clapton helped secure an audition with the Rolling Stones, leading to Perkins playing on three tracks of their 1974 album Black and Blue and an unreleased solo on “Worried About You.” He continued to record and tour into the 2000s and died on March 16, 2026, at the age of 74, leaving a legacy of influential contributions to some of rock’s most iconic recordings.