1. Daniel Peter Seraphine was born on August 28,1948 and is an American drummer, record producer, theatrical producer, and film producer.
21 Facts About Danny Seraphine
1. 2.
Danny Seraphine is best known as the original drummer and a founding member of the rock band Chicago, a tenure which lasted from February 1967 to May 1990.
3.
Danny Seraphine was born in Chicago to John and Mary Danny Seraphine.
4.
Danny Seraphine started playing drums at the age of nine while attending St Priscilla Catholic grade school.
5.
When he was 15 years old, Danny Seraphine withdrew from Steinmetz High School.
6.
Danny Seraphine studied privately with percussionist Bob Tilles at DePaul University, where future members of Chicago were studying.
7.
Danny Seraphine cites his influences as Buddy Rich, Tony Williams, Elvin Jones, Grady Tate, Ringo Starr, Mitch Mitchell, and Hal Blaine.
8.
Danny Seraphine continued his education with big band drummer Chuck Flores, followed by two years of study under jazz drummer Jo Jones in the mid-1970s.
9.
Early in 1967, Danny Seraphine approached his two new friends Walter Parazaider and Terry Kath about leaving the cover band they were in and starting a new band with a horn section.
10.
Danny Seraphine's writing partner was often David "Hawk" Wolinski, the keyboardist for Rufus featuring Chaka Khan although Seraphine has occasionally co-written with other members of the band like Peter Cetera, Robert Lamm and Bill Champlin.
11.
In 1974, during the peak of the band's career, Danny Seraphine co-founded B'Ginnings, a music venue with capacity of almost 1,000, in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.
12.
Danny Seraphine was let go from Chicago in May 1990, after disagreements with the band that were chronicled in his book Street Player: My Chicago Story.
13.
In early 2006, after about 15 years of hiatus from actively playing music, Danny Seraphine debuted a new band, California Transit Authority, featuring himself on drums, Marc Bonilla on lead guitar, Mick Mahan on bass guitar, Ed Roth and Peter Fish on keyboards, Mike Wallace on guitar, and Tower of Power singer Larry Braggs on vocals.
14.
The response from the public was strong enough to persuade Danny Seraphine to continue and write original material with the other band members.
15.
Danny Seraphine has been ranked by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the top 100 drummers of all time.
16.
In 2010, Danny Seraphine received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Cape Breton Drum Festival.
17.
Danny Seraphine was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Chicago on April 8,2016.
18.
Danny Seraphine received a Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award at the 63RD ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS.
19.
Danny Seraphine had previously endorsed Rogers, Slingerland and Yamaha drums in the past prior to endorsing DW in 1988.
20.
Danny Seraphine switched to Yamaha Drums around 1984 before the departure of singer and bassist Peter Cetera.
21.
Danny Seraphine had previously used Pro-Mark drumsticks, but eventually switched to using Danny Seraphine signature drumsticks, a line created for him by Zildjian, and for many years, he used Remo heads.