Martin Grupp, 90, Brill Building percussionist

Martin Grupp, 90, a percussionist who provided the beat for the Drifters' "On Broadway" and many Brill Building songs, died Wednesday, July 16, at Penn-Presbyterian Medical Center.

On the bandstand and in the studio, Mr. Grupp played with a constellation of musical superstars that reached from the big band era to the Great White Way, providing rhythmic drive and propulsive accents for Kate Smith, Johnny Hartman, Jackie Gleason, Johnny Mathis, Nina Simone, and Quincy Jones.

Mr. Grupp, born in 1923 in Brooklyn, N.Y., was the last in a line of seven generations of musicians. His father, David, was timpanist for the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy and the NBC Symphony under Arturo Toscanini.

Yet Martin Grupp became a musician against his family's wishes.

"His father wanted him to be a lawyer," said Brenda Simon, his wife of 15 years. "When Marty applied to Juilliard, his parents didn't know about it until he got accepted - and then he had to tell them."

After graduating from the celebrated music school at 19, Mr. Grupp joined the Army, was stationed at West Point, and joined the band. He served as a paratrooper - very briefly - during World War II.

"The Army wanted to make it look like we had more troops during one campaign," Simon said. "So they flew a bunch of the musicians to Europe and parachuted them in. The next day, they flew them back home. He might have been overseas for all of 20 hours."

At the end of the war, Mr. Grupp became a studio player, finding his place as a building block of the "Brill Building sound."

"He's probably on 5,000 records," Simon said.

As a percussionist, Mr. Grupp played up to five assignments a day, running from recording studio to recording studio, often transporting his huge drums across New York City.

Through connections he made in the theater and with a talent for organizing projects, Simon said, he became a musical contractor, gathering the right musicians for new Broadway shows.

Man of La Mancha, in 1965, was his first contracting assignment.

"Marty said that, on opening night, they didn't know if it would be a success or not," Simon said. The show went on to win five Tony Awards and run for more than 2,300 performances.

Mr. Grupp provided similar contracting duties for numerous other Broadway productions while also working for Merv Griffin's and David Frost's TV shows in New York, Simon said. He remained musically active through the early '90s, working with such artists as John Barry, Tony Bennett, Bette Midler, and Liza Minnelli, Simon said.

In 1999, Mr. Grupp gave up New York for Philadelphia after a fated trip to Atlantic City. "We met at the pool," Simon said. "He saw this girl with blond hair and long legs and said, 'I could go for that.' "

In addition to his wife, Mr. Grupp is survived by daughters Linda Antico and Carol Wilson; four grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.

Services were private. Contributions may be made to the Legacy Fund at Congregation Rodeph Shalom, 615 N. Broad St., Philadelphia 19123, or ORT America, 248 Geiger Rd., Suite 104, Philadelphia 19115.