Are you sure you didn't mean to say:  drummers and bass players who made songwriters and singers even greater?

[Hint: the entire Motown catalog]

 

John Lennon and Paul McCartney?

And though I'm not a huge fan of the Rolling Stones, I've noted that--at least among most of their biggest hits--the drum beat isn't required to do a lot other than be tasteful (which of course isn't always easy).

Within the context of my limited knowledge, this question seems to lean towards popular music, where hook and melody take precedent over blazing fills.  Of course there are exceptions, but it's just my 2 pennies as I respond quickly while awaiting the grill to warm up so I can toss some steaks on it and go to work. 

i guess the standouts to me would be paul simon and steve winwood. they surround themselves with great musicians all-around. but they always have outstanding drummers. tom petty, too. i always liked the feel steve ferrone gave to his latter work.

really, these drummers helped make the singer/songwriter, too. we all know the gadd 'fifty ways' thing. i don't remember who did the drums on 'higher love' , but it's a killer opener. same deal with 'wildflowers'. awesome drum tracks/sound in general.

I always thought it was programmed.
Checked Winwood's own site and Mickey Curry (Hall & Oates, Bryan Adams) is the credited drummer on Higher Love. Winwood is also credited for drum programming, which I can hear quite a bit of on the track.

I'm pretty sure it was J.R. Robinson.  He lists the track on his web site, and I seem to recall him mentioning years ago in a Modern Drummer interview that he was so proud of that track -- the intro in particular -- that he made it the greeting on his home answering machine.  For some reason, that stuck with me.

http://www.johnjrrobinson.com/biography.html

JR has become the most recorded drummer in history, even surpassing the great Hal Blaine. Some of the hits are, We Are The World, All Night Long by Lionel Richie, I'm So Excited and Slow Hand by the Pointer Sisters, I'm Just A Gigolo and California Girls by David Lee Roth, Higher Love and Back In The Highlife by Steve Winwood, Express Yourself by Madonna, Off The Wall, Bad and many others for Michael Jackson, the new Natalie Cole CD,"Stardust" and Change The World by Eric Clapton, Quincy Jones' "The Dude", "Q's Jook Joint" and "From Q With Love" and Ray Charles, "Genius Loves Company",  to name a few. Of course in 1983 JR won a Grammy with Rufus and Chaka Khan for "Ain't Nobody".