A drumroll, please, for Hannah Ford, LZHS graduate, who followed her high school dreams and is now the drummer for Prince’s Third Eye Girl and is going to be starred on the cover of Drum Magazine. 

Ford, who took part in the band’s drumline while a student in high school, graced the cover of Drum Magazine’s April issue.

“I wasn’t surprised [when she made the cover]. She had a good head on her shoulders and took criticism well. She was also incredibly talented and her dad did a good job of promoting her,” Josh Thompson, band director, said. “[I reacted to the cover of the magazine with] just another in a long list of accomplishments and recognitions of her. For goodness sakes, she’s Prince’s drummer.”

Thompson says he knew Ford had potential and talent from the time she started playing in the high school band with a majority of boys.

“She was very humble,” Thompson said. “It was hard for her to be such a talented girl in a section of mostly boys.”

Ford was recognized by six music companies during her junior year of high school, helping her start her career as a professional drummer.

“[She was endorsed by] Shure Microphones, Zildjian Cymbals, Gretsch drums, Vater Drumsticks (she had her own line while she was in high school), Gibraltar Hardware, and Toca Percussion,” Thompson said. “She always impressed people when she played at talent shows, et cetera, but I think she was actually more famous as a freshman outside of Illinois than she was in [LZ.]”