Drum God, Born 12/27/50,
San Francisco, California.
Bozzio began playing drums at age 6 by building
makeshift drum kits out of common household materials like coffee cans and pots. His early listening included records of
Tito Puente and the music of
Sandy Nelson and The Ventures.
At age 13 he saw
The Beatles' first American performance on
The Ed Sullivan Show, and convinced his father to let him take private lessons. In July of 1964, he began taking lessons (Bozzio suggests:
Rudiments, Stick Control and Basic Beats). Over the next four years, he formed two garage bands, called
Blue Glass Radio, and
The Yarde and Tamalpais Jungle Mountain Boys.
At
Marin College, he studied with
Chuck Brown on drum set and Lloyd Davis and Roland Kohloff, percussionists from the
San Fransisco Symphony on percussion and
timpani.
In 1972, he began playing jazz with
Mark Isham,
Peter Maunu,
Patrick O'Hearn,
Mike Knock,
Art Lande,
Azteca,
Eddie Henderson,
Woody Shaw,
Julian Priester,
Eric Gravatt,
Billy Higgins,
Andy Narell,
Hadley Calliman,
Mel Graves and
Mel Martin. He became a steady drummer in the "
Jim Dukey Big Band" at San Francisco's
Great American Music Hall. He also recorded his first album for
Fantasy Records for trumpeter
Luis Gasca, with drum phenomenon
Jack DeJohnette,
George Duke, and
Joe Henderson.
In 1975, Bozzio joins
Frank Zappa and the
Mothers of Invention. Records "
Bongo Fury" with Zappa and
Captain Beefheart. During the next three years with Zappa, he recorded over 10 albums, including a piece titled "
Black Page" which Zappa wrote specifically for Terry. In addition to playing drums, Bozzio adds his vocal talents to the band, singing lead vocals on several songs, including
Punky's Whips (which pokes fun at Bozzio as well),
Titties 'n' Beer, and
I'm so Cute. He toured the world three times with Zappa.
In 1977, Bozzio joined
The Brecker Brothers, and in 1978 was dismissed from The Mothers. He soon joined
Group 87, and auditioned (unsuccessfully) for
Thin Lizzy.
In 1979, Bozzio replaced
Bill Bruford and
Alan Holdsworth in the band
UK. They toured with
Jethro Tull in the USA, Europe, and Japan. He then quit UK to found
Missing Persons with ex-Mothers guitarist
Warren Cuccurullo.
Starting in 1980 and continuing for the next five years, Bozzio toured the world with Missing Persons, and recorded
Spring Session M,
Rhyme & Reason, and
Color in Your Life with them.
In 1985, Bozzio left the band and teamed up with
Duran Duran's
Andy Taylor. He also began work on his own solo projects. He played on sessions with
Robbie Robertson,
Gary Wright,
Don Dokken,
XYZ,
Paul Hyde,
Herbie Hancock,
Dweezil Zappa,
Richard Marx,
Mick Jagger, and
Jeff Beck, later joining Beck and keyboardist
Tony Hymas to form BB&H and co-write/co-produce and perform on the
Grammy Award winning album "
Guitar shop". He toured the world with
Stevie Ray Vaughn and BB&H.
Between 1990 and 1995, Bozzio developed an
ostinato-based style, and wrote compositions and records based in this style. He joined T.Hymas,
Toney Coe (winds),
Hugh Burns (guitar) to form the
Lonely Bears. With them he recorded "The Lonely Bears", "Injustice" & "The Bears are Running", while living in paris. He then formed "
Polytown" and recorded with guitarist
David Torn and bassist
Mick Karn. in 1995, he performed "An Evening of Solo Drum Music", a solo
drum show featuring a stage packed with various percussive instruments.
Between 1995 and 2002, Bozzio has gone on several tours of the USA, Australia, Canada & Europe as a "Solo Drum Artist". He recorded two solo albums, "Drawing the Circle", "Chamberworks", as well as a "Live in Concert" video, "Duets" video, and "Alternative Duets" albums, with
Chad Wackerman. He was awarded with
Modern Drummer magazine's
Hall of Fame award,
Drum Magazine's "Drummer of the Year" & "Best Clinician" awards, Schlagwerkrant Magazine (of Holland) "best drummer" award, and
Player Magazine (of Japan) "Best Drummer" award. He recently helped invent "
Beater Ball Enhancer" instruments, "
Piccolo Toms" and "
Tunerz" tuning locks for
DW, and "
Radia" cymbals, bells and gongs for
Sabian. In 1997 and 2002, Bozzio released two albums with
Tony Levin and
Steve Stevens, titled
Black Light Syndrome and
Situation Dangerous. He also recorded an album titled "Nine Short Films" with bassist
Billy Sheehan, in which Bozzio sings
poetry and plays
keyboards as well as drums. He has just finished work on an album titled "Delete and Roll" with guitarist
Alex Machacek and woodwind player
Geral Preinfalk.
www.terrybozzio.com/bio.html
discography at terrybozzio.com/disco.html
props to machfive for the bozzio/levin/stevens info!
further props to sighmoan for corrections and additions!