Kenneth Clarke Spearman (January 9, 1914 – January 26, 1985), known professionally as Kenny Clarke and nicknamed Klook, was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. A major innovator of the bebop style of drumming, he pioneered the use of the ride cymbal to keep time rather than the hi-hat, along with the use of the bass drum for irregular accents ("dropping bombs").

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he was orphaned about age five and began playing drums when he was eight or nine at the urging of a teacher at his orphanage. He turned professional in 1931 at age 17; four years later, he moved to New York City where he began to establish his drumming style and reputation. As the house drummer at Minton's Playhouse in the early 1940s, he participated in the after-hours jams that led to the birth of bebop.

After serving in the military in the US and Europe from 1943 to 1946, he returned to New York but was mostly based in Paris between 1948 and 1951. He stayed in New York for the next five years, performing with the Modern Jazz Quartet and playing on early Miles Davis recordings. Clarke then moved permanently to Paris, where he performed and recorded with European and visiting American musicians and co-led the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band between 1961 and 1972. He continued to perform and record until shortly before his death of a heart attack in January 1985.

Clarke was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on January 9, 1914. He was the younger of two sons born to Martha Grace Scott, a pianist from Pittsburgh, and Charles Spearman, a trombonist from Waycross, Georgia. The family lived on Wylie Avenue in the Lower Hill District of Pittsburgh.

Spearman left the household to start a new family in Yakima, Washington. Scott, who began a relationship with a Baptist preacher shortly afterwards, died suddenly in her late twenties when Clarke was about five, leaving him an orphan. He and his brother were placed in the Coleman Industrial Home for Negro Boys. After trying a few brass instruments, Clarke (at the urging of a teacher) played snare drum in the orphanage's marching band at about age eight or nine. He also played the piano, on which his mother had taught him some simple tunes, as well as the pump organ at the parish church, for which he played hymns and composed pieces that were introduced there.

At age eleven or twelve, Clarke and his brother resumed living with their stepfather, who did not look favorably upon music or associating with those involved with it. Clarke dropped out of Herron Hill Junior High School at 15. Around the same time, their stepfather threw Clarke and his brother out after an argument. Clarke was placed in a foster home without his brother, where he lived for about a year until his 16th birthday. He then took on several odd jobs while establishing his music career, becoming a local professional with the Leroy Bradley Band by 17.

After touring with the Roy Eldridge band through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio, he returned to the Bradley band based at the Cotton Club in Cincinnati. He stayed with them for two years, broken up by a two-month stint with the Jeter-Pillars Orchestra. At the time, the orchestra included trumpeter Harry Edison and bassist Walter Page, who would later be featured in the Count Basie Orchestra. Around this time, Clarke took up the vibraphone with assistance from Adrian Rollini, a pioneer on the instrument.

In late 1935, Clarke moved to New York City, where he dropped the surname Spearman and became known as Kenny Clarke. He doubled on drums and vibes in a trio with his half-brother Frank, a bassist and guitarist who had recently moved to New York and likewise changed his surname to Clarke to benefit from Kenny's newfound fame. In 1936, Clarke played alongside guitarist Freddie Green in a group fronted by tenor saxophonist Lonnie Simmons, where he began to experiment with rhythmic patterns against the basic beat of the band.