Aynsley Dunbar (born Aynsley Thomas Dunbar in Liverpool on 10 January 1946) is an English drummer. As well as recordings under his own name and as The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation, he was a member of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, the Jeff Beck Group, Journey (with whom he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017), Jefferson Starship, Whitesnake, and worked with Frank Zappa, Nils Lofgren, Eric Burdon, Shuggie Otis, Ian Hunter, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Mick Ronson, Pat Travers, Sammy Hagar, Michael Schenker, UFO, Michael Chapman, Jake E. Lee, Leslie West, Kathi McDonald, Keith Emerson, Mike Onesko, Herbie Mann, and Flo & Eddie. Over his career, he has demonstrated the ability of playing many different styles including jazz, blues, fusion, rock and progressive rock. He has had over 30 gold and platinum records from over 112 albums.

Playing drums since the age of eleven, Dunbar first made waves when he joined John Mayall's Bluesbreakers in 1966 with Peter Green and John McVie, then drumming for the Jeff Beck Group, with Rod Stewart and Ron Wood. In 1967, Dunbar formed the blues-rock band The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation, and later formed Blue Whale, and met Frank Zappa. After moving to America and living in Zappa’s garage, he and Zappa created Chunga's Revenge. He joined David Bowie in the 1973-1974 timeframe for the albums Pin-Ups and Diamond Dogs, and also recorded Lou Reed's famous session album Berlin with Jack Bruce, Steve Winwood, and Tony Levin. In 1974 he hooked up with Santana guitarist Neal Schon and manager Herbie Herbert and joined the recently-formed Journey where he co-wrote four albums, including the highly acclaimed rock-fusion instrumental Kohoutek, Of a Lifetime, which features Gregg Rolie vocals with high-impact solos, Hustler, which featured Aynsley's first use of double kick drums, and such mega-hits as Lights, Feeling That Way, Anytime, Patiently, Something to Hide and Wheel in the Sky.

In 1976, Dunbar played on rocker Sammy Hagar's album Nine On a Ten Inch Scale and played for the second time with Nils Lofgren to drum up his hit Back it Up on Cry Tough. Dunbar next joined Jefferson Starship in 1978, promptly bringing the band a new hit album with Freedom at Point Zero and such hits as Jane, Girl with the Hungry Eyes, and the mega hit, Find Your Way Back. He stayed with Jefferson Starship, touring and recording through 1982's Winds of Change. At the request of David Coverdale, over lunch at Sunset's La Dome, Dunbar was convinced to leave retirement to join Whitesnake in 1985. Dunbar played drums on the band's commercial breakthrough album, Whitesnake 1987, producing another string of hits, Still of the Night, What is Love and Here I go Again.

Dunbar hit the road again in 1994, playing and recording with such artists as Pat Travers, UFO, John Lee Hooker, Michael Schenker, and collaborating with many of the world's top musicians on tribute albums to Van Halen, Steve Ray Vaughn, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, Queen and most recently Metallica.

No other modern rock / jazz / blues / fusion drummer has played with as many successful bands and musicians as Aynsley Dunbar. Although Dunbar has achieved such professional success, tragedy struck him June 1999, when his youngest son Dash was diagnosed with brain cancer. Sadly, Dash passed away on May 9, 2000.

He has been the drummer for the World Classic Rockers since 2003. In 2005, he drummed on Jake E. Lee's solo Retraced album.

In 2008 Dunbar recorded an album of material for Direct Music with Mickey Thomas of Starship, and musicians such as Jake E. Lee, former guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.