Maureen Ann "Moe" Tucker (born August 26, 1944) is an American drummer, singer and musician best known for having been the drummer for the New York City-based experimental avant-garde ensemble the Velvet Underground.
Maureen Tucker was born in Jackson Heights, Queens, and grew up in Levittown, New York, in a middle-class Catholic family. Her father, James, was a house painter and her mother, Margaret, was a clerical worker. She had an older brother, Jim, who was friends with Sterling Morrison, and a sister Margo. As a teenager she was an avid fan of Babatunde Olatunji, whom she first heard on the Murray the K radio show. Olatunji, along with Bo Diddley and the Rolling Stones, inspired her to become a musician.
Tucker began playing the drums in 1963, at age 19. Without any formal instruction, she learned by playing along with popular songs on a second-hand drum kit.
When she was asked to join the Velvet Underground, Tucker had dropped out of Ithaca College and was working for IBM as a keypunch operator. The band's original percussionist, Angus Maclise, had left in November 1965 because he felt the band sold out when it took a paying gig. Tucker was drafted because Velvets guitarist Sterling Morrison remembered her as the younger sister of one of his college friends who played the drums. Tucker was frequently noted for her androgynous appearance.