Eddie Drennon (born Edward Allen Drennen,[1] 1940)[2] is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and arranger.
Other works of that period, including "Do What You Gotta Do", have been sampled by more contemporary musicians such as Grandmaster Flash, The Avalanches, Biz Markie,[3] and Shaggy.
[4] Drennon was born in Newark, New Jersey, United States, and after leaving school began working with local bands.
From 1959 to 1963, he studied violin techniques with Louia Vaughn Jones and music composition with Mark Fax at Howard University in Washington, D.C.[1] Initially a working musician in Washington, he was encouraged by bandleader Lou Perez to move to New York City in the mid-1960s, and worked with Pupi Legarreta, Super Tipica De Estrellas, Tipica Ideal and Charanga America.
[9] A cover version of the track by the M and O Band reached number 16 in the UK chart, slightly out performing the original.
[5] AllMusic noted that "Drennon's second Casablanca album [It Don't Mean a Thing] uses the same formula as the first that spawned his biggest hit "Latin Hustle": Latinish pop rhythms topped by female vocals and accented with strings.