Denny Carmassi

Denny Carmassi
Born	San Francisco, California, United States
Origin	San Francisco, California, United States
Genres	Rock
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Drums
Years active	1970–present
Associated acts	Montrose Gamma Heart Sammy Hagar

Denny Carmassi is an American drummer. He was born into a family of drummers; his father, his uncle, and his brother each played the drums. Some of Denny's earliest memories are his father rehearsing after work with his band in the kitchen of their home. Occasionally they allowed young Denny Carmassi to sit in with them. His father exposed him to great drummers, including Buddy Rich, Jimmy Vincent and Richard Goldberg. Then Denny listened the radio and discovered several drummers like Earl Palmer, D.J. Fontana, Al Jackson Jr. (Denny actually learned to play the drums from listening to Al's and playing along with the Booker T. & the M.G.'s "Green Onions" album), Clyde Stubblefield, Jabo Starks, Dino Danelli, Ginger Baker, Mitch Mitchell, John Bonham and Tony Williams.

Out of high school, Denny started playing topless clubs in San Francisco. He joined a band called Sweet Linda Devine, and recorded an album in New York on Columbia, produced by Al Kooper, but before long they parted ways. Denny 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.

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