Today is Dre Day: Rockford honors drummer DeAndre Hemby with official day

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — DeAndre Hemby knew Friday was his day to showcase the musical skills he’s cultivated to his hometown crowd.

But he didn’t know Friday was his day in an official capacity.

Hemby, a 2013 Auburn High School graduate who now tours playing drums for Teddy Swims’ band, was surprised minutes before the show Friday with a proclamation from the mayor’s office officially declaring Sept. 20, 2024, as “Dre Day.”

“I never thought that anything like this would be possible. I just play drums,” Hemby said. “I can’t put this into words what this really means right now. My heart is too happy right now.”

Hemby was pulled from backstage onto the floor of the Hard Rock Live venue shortly before the crowd was let in. Gathered there were his parents, his former high school teacher Beth Heuer, and friends who were alongside Hard Rock Casino Rockford President Geno Iafrate and City Attorney Nick Meyer.

“I’m not really a cryer, but if I was a cryer I’d be boo-hooing right now,” Hemby joked.

Meyer was standing in for Mayor Tom McNamara, who is at the Illinois Municipal League Conference in Chicago. So the city attorney read the mayor’s declaration bestowing Hemby with his own honorary day.

“Because of his strong work ethic and determination, DeAndre played wherever opportunity presented itself, and because of his outstanding character, he slowly became known and was requested to perform,” Meyer said reading from the proclamation.

The mayor’s proclamations typically have more formal names — such as DeAndre Hemby Day. In calling it Dre Day, which is also the name of a 1992 rap classic from Dr. Dre, the declaration gave a nod to Hemby’s nickname and musical proficiency.

It also delighted Hemby and his friends, who chanted “Dre Day” after the proclamation was read.

“It’s mind-blowing,” his father Demone Hemby said. “I’m so proud of him because I know all the work he’s put into it, the tireless days of him coming home from school, going down in the basement, beating on drums all night long.”

DeAndre Hemby now lives in Georgia, where he moved to attend Gwinnett Tech College after graduating Auburn. But as he has toured the country with a chart-topping musician, he has never forgotten that Rockford is home.

“Whenever he is interviewed, wherever he goes, he doesn’t say I’m from Chicago, he doesn’t say I’m from a city close to Chicago: He says, I’m from Rockford,” said Delia Hemby, DeAndre’s mother. “It’s really important to know that Rockford recognizes him and he still remembers his roots.”

Delia Hemby said her son got his first drum set when he was 2. It was a paper drum set, and it didn’t last long.

“By the next day the paper set was torn up,” she said.

As he got older, he would also wear down and break all his pencils at school from drumming on the desks.

“I couldn’t stop him from playing, so I said if I’m not going to stop him from playing I have to cultivate his gift,” Delia Hemby said. “I would put on my headphones and let him play and beat all day in the house, just to be able to let him get his gift out.”

It was at Auburn, where he met Heuer, that he learned to read music rather than play by ear, his mother said.

“When they make it to the big time there’s a sense of pride and joy,” Heuer said. “Especially with this young man who walked in at 14 years old when I first met him, in the bands, he was just that type of kid that you could see that he was going to reach his dream.”

Delia Hemby said there were a multitude of moments throughout her son’s youth that she could see he would be successful in music.

One, in particular, stood out.

It was while Dre was playing drums in the youth department for Faith Center church, and his fellow musicians asked him to perform blindfolded.

“He played a whole musical set blindfolded,” she said, “and I was like, oh, he’s got it.”

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas