Duke Tumatoe
| Duke Tumatoe | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Chicago, Illinois |
| Genres | Blues, rock, R&B, funk |
| Years active | 1965-Present |
| Labels | Warner Bros. Records, Blind Pig, J-Bird, Sweetfinger Music |
| Associated acts | Duke Tumatoe & The All-Star Frogs, Duke Tumatoe & The Power Trio, REO Speedwagon, The Bob & Tom Show |
| Website | duketumatoe |
Duke Tumatoe, born William “Bill" Severen Fiorio in 1947, is an American blues guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. He has gigged with Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, B.B. King, Willie Dixon, Buddy Guy, John Fogerty and George Thorogood. He was a founding member of arena-rock giants REO Speedwagon. He has released fifteen albums as the bandleader of Duke Tumatoe & The All-Star Frogs and Duke Tumatoe & The Power Trio. His 1988 live album I Like My Job was produced by John Fogerty. He typically plays more than 200 dates per year.
Duke Tumatoe was born in June 1947 in Chicago. His father was a first-generation Italian whose family hailed from San Bonifacio, Italy, a northern Italian town outside Verona. He grew up in Beverly, a neighborhood on the Southwest side of Chicago.
The South Side of Chicago was also the birthplace of urban, electric blues, which was a huge influence on Tumatoe. As a teen, he often visited the legendary market at Maxwell Street to hear live blues. He says, “I first saw Muddy Waters when I was 13. We were hearing that stuff all the time and just assumed everybody was, too. I knew all the old guys, and I'd see them every day. I can't believe I took that for granted."
He learned to play drums at age 14 and guitar a year after that.
In 1965, Tumatoe enrolled in college at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and founded a short-lived band called Lothar & The Handpeople. This band was named by CBS News Correspondent and Emmy Award winner Bill Geist, a classmate of Tumatoe’s.
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