| Denny Carmassi | |
| Birth Date: | 30 April 1947[1] or 5 May 1947[2] |
| Birth Place: | Alameda County, California, United States |
| Occupation: | Drummer |
| Years Active: | 1970–present |
Dennis Joseph "Denny" Carmassi (born 1947) is an American drummer most notable for playing with many rock bands.
Carmassi was born into a family of drummers; his father, his uncle, and his brother each played the drums.[3] Occasionally, they allowed young Denny to sit in with them. His father exposed him to great drummers, including Buddy Rich, Jimmy Vincent and Richard Goldberg. Denny listened to the radio and discovered such drummers as Earl Palmer, D.J. Fontana, Al Jackson Jr., Clyde Stubblefield, Jabo Starks, Dino Danelli, Ginger Baker, Mitch Mitchell, John Bonham, and Tony Williams. Out of high school, he started playing topless clubs in San Francisco. He joined a band called Sweet Linda Divine and recorded an album in New York on Columbia, produced by Al Kooper, but before long they parted ways. Carmassi went on to work with several local bands in the San Francisco Bay Area and began working with Montrose and Sammy Hagar in the 1970s.
Carmassi was a member of the first four line-ups of the band Montrose. After Montrose, he played with his former Montrose bandmate Sammy Hagar as a solo artist, and with his former Montrose bandmates Ronnie Montrose and Jim Alcivar in the band Gamma. He played with Heart, Coverdale-Page, Whitesnake, and David Coverdale as a solo artist.[4]
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s