Pumpkin (musician)

Errol Eduardo Bedward (d. August 28, 1990), better known by his stage name Pumpkin was a musician, percussionist and band leader. He was renowned for being the one behind many old school hip hop tracks for the Profile, Enjoy, and Tuff City record companies.

He worked with several important early hip hop acts from 1979 to 1984, such as Spoonie Gee, Treacherous Three, Funky Four, Grandmaster Caz, Fearless Four, and Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde, as well as a host of more obscure names. His 1983 single "King of the Beat" was followed by one of his last productions, Pumpkin and the Profile All-Stars' "Here Comes the Beat" (Profile, 1984).

Errol Eduardo Bedward, known to most of his friends as " PUMPKIN " was born in New York on January 21, 1961. His family origin is Port Limon, Costa Rica. Errol graduated from Evander Childs High School, and attended Baruch and Lehman College as a music major. As we all should know, Errol lived his life expressing himself through his music. People who lived near him, in the BOOGIE DOWN BRONX, would gather around outside his house to hear him create those crazy street beats which eventually ended up on records. Pumkin and one of his two brothers MIKE BASS, would be JAM'N up a storm. Every Saturday morning, with the garage door wide open for all to hear, you can rest assure that Pumpkin would be JAM'N. He had worked with many prominent and well known artists in the music industry. In addition to being a GREAT GREAT drummer, Errol was a multi-instrumentalist, producer, writer, arranger, musical consultant and music teacher. It was these many talents that earned him much success as a pioneer in the early years of RAP MUSIC. He was truly a legend in his own time.

Pumpkin left behind his loving wife and best friend Diane and beautiful daughter Chelsea Alexis.

Pumpkin died on August 28, 1990 of pneumonia.

In the words of writer David Toop, "In the early days of rap on wax, it was musicians like Pumpkin at Enjoy and Jiggs Chase at Sugarhill who defined a new musical style."

A collection of his work for Tuff City was released under his stage name in 1995 as The Tuff City Sessions on the retrospective label Old School Flava.

                            Pumpkins Discography  *  Means TOP TEN HIT

1. * Rappin & Rockin The House - Funky Four Plus 4 (Enjoy) 2. * Love Rap - Spoonie Gee - (Enjoy) 3. Body Rock - Trecherous Three (Enjoy) 4. At The Party - Trecherous Three (Enjoy) 5. * Feel The Heart Beat - Trecherous Three (Enjoy) 6. * Move To The Groove - Disco Four (Enjoy) 7. Country Rock & Rap - Disco Four (Enjoy) 8. Put The Boogie In Your Body - Trecherous Three (Enjoy) 9. The Ultimate Rap - Nice-N-Nasty Three (Holiday) 10.* Ice Theme - Dr. Ice (Enjoy) 11. Gonna Get You Hot - The Master Don Committee (Enjoy) 12. Your Rock - Fantasy Three (Specifc) 13. Biters In The City - Fantasy Three (C.C.L.) 14.* Dollar Bill Y'all - Jimmy Spice ( ) 15.* Problems Of The World Today - Fearless Four (Electra Asylum) 16.* It's Magic - Fearless Four (Enjoy) 17.* Rockin It Rockin It - Fearless Four (Enjoy) 18.* Gettin Money - Dr. Jeckyl & Mr. Hyde (Profile) 19.* School Beats - Disco Four (Profile) 20.* King Of The Beats - Pumpkin (Profile) 21.* Here Comes That Beat - Pumpkin & The AllStars (Profile) 22. Funk Boxx 2 - The Master Don Committee (Profile) 23. Mr. Bill - Grand Master Caz (Tuff City) 24. Joe Blow - Puffy Dee (Tuff City) 25.* Put That Head Out - Wizard Wiz (Tuff City)

SONGS # 1-7 Done with LIVE DRUMS SONG # 20 Done with LINN DRUM SONGS # 8-12 Done with LINN DRUM SONG # 19 Done with DMX SONGS # 14-18 Done with LINN DRUM SONG # 13 LIVE DRUMS & Roland SONGS # 22-25 Done with LINN DRUM SONG # 21 Done with Roland * Means Top Ten Hit

References

• Peter Shapiro, Rough Guide to Hip-Hop, 2nd ed., Rough Guides: London, 2005 (p. 369).
• David Toop, Rap Attack, 3rd ed., Serpent's Tail: London, 2000 (p. 17, pp. 87–88).