Nandi Bushell

The 1997 song also made Billboard's Hot Hard Rock Songs (#2), Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (#11), and Hot Alternative Songs (#17) lists, none of which existed when it was released.

Bushell and Roman Morello wrote and performed the song "The Children Will Rise Up" in October 2021 to warn of the dangers of climate change.

Nandi Lily Bushell (born 28 April 2010) is a South African-born British musician, singer, songwriter, and social media personality.

Her cover of "Use Me" caught the attention of Anderson .Paak, and Lenny Kravitz invited Bushell to meet and accompany him during a sound check at The O2 Arena whilst on tour in June 2019.

Kravitz and drummer Nate Smith later sent Bushell a custom drum kit.

In July 2019, she was invited to meet with Questlove at the On Blackheath festival at Blackheath.

After her multi-instrument cover of "Plug In Baby" was seen by Muse's Matt Bellamy, he gifted her one of his signature guitars.

Her drum cover of Nirvana's "In Bloom" went viral in November 2019, gaining over 10 million views via Twitter within a week.

Dave Grohl, the drummer on Nevermind, learned of the video from album producer Butch Vig, and was amazed by her "joy and energy".

She became known for her drumming skill by posting cover versions of popular rock songs to her YouTube and Instagram accounts, and her online drum battle with Dave Grohl received international coverage in 2020.

By age ten, Bushell's videos had earned the attention of musicians including Grohl, Lenny Kravitz, Anderson .Paak, and Questlove, and led to numerous television appearances.

Bushell was the youngest artist featured on the cover of Modern Drummer magazine and is the first-ever musician-in-residence at Cartoon Network.

She has performed with Kravitz and in concert with Grohl's band Foo Fighters, and was a featured guest at the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II in London.

Bushell has been writing and recording her own music since age ten.

Three of those songs, in which she performs all parts, were offered as singles ahead of her first EP, Into the Abyss, set for 2023.

Its first single, "The Shadows", was released in September 2022.

Nandi Bushell was born in Durban, South Africa; her mother Lungile is from KwaZulu-Natal, whilst her father John is British.

Her family moved from Durban to Ipswich, United Kingdom, when she was age two.

Bushell describes herself as "British and Zulu".

Her parents are not musicians, though her father played in bands during his university years.

When John showed his children a video for The Beatles' "Hey Jude", Bushell was fascinated by Ringo Starr's performance and showed an interest in playing the drums.

Her parents bought her first drum kit as a reward for good grades at school; whilst accompanying his daughter on guitar, he saw that his five-year-old daughter had strong skills at keeping a beat.

At age six, Bushell began taking lessons with a local drum teacher; her first week was "really hard, but then I just got it."

With her dad's help, Bushell began posting to social media her covers of various songs, including a music video he created with an alien theme as seven-year-old Nandi drummed along to "Toxicity" by System of a Down.

She also attended jam sessions at a local pub, where she played with adult musicians as part of the Ipswich Rock Project.

Bushell's videos on social media were spotted by established musicians, many of whom offered gifts.

After Questlove saw one of her Instagram videos, he sent her a custom child-sized drum kit.

In August 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bushell uploaded a cover of "Everlong" by Foo Fighters, another of Grohl's bands, and challenged him to a drum-off, calling him her favourite drummer.

Grohl thought it was "adorable", but his friends kept texting him, "dude, you need to step up and respond to this. You have to represent."

Grohl responded by drumming along with "Dead End Friends" by his supergroup Them Crooked Vultures to return the challenge to Bushell.

After she posted a video drumming to the same song, Grohl conceded defeat.

He subsequently performed an original song inspired by Bushell; she responded by writing and recording a song dedicated to Grohl.

The remote drum battle received international coverage, drew millions of views, and bolstered Bushell's presence on social media: within six months, she had over 800,000 followers on Instagram and 250,000 followers on YouTube.

Grohl cited their drum-off as the reason he chose February 2021 to release Medicine at Midnight, which Foo Fighters had been holding back during the pandemic.

"I hope our record can make people feel the same [joy] as my drum battle with Nandi."

During a video chat with Bushell in November 2020, Grohl invited her to perform with him and Foo Fighters on stage once they were able to tour again.

They met in person for the first time on 26 August 2021 at The Forum in California, where Grohl introduced his "arch nemesis" on drums to perform "Everlong" and close the sold-out show.

In her review for Variety, Jessica Shalvoy wrote that Bushell was "absolutely shredding ... [she] sounded like she'd been touring with Foos for the past 26 years", despite having met in person that same night.

Kelli Skye Fadroski of The Orange County Register called it "epic"; Billboard's Gil Kaufman wrote, "the band's ecstatic preteen protégé flawlessly played them home like a pro."

Bushell's viral appearance led to the return in September of "Everlong" to the music charts.