Tony Currenti
| Tony Currenti | |
|---|---|
| Born |
26 June 1951 Fiumefreddo di Sicilia, Catania, Italy |
| Origin | Sydney |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Drums |
| Years active | 1969–77, 2014–present |
| Labels | EMI, Alberts |
| Associated acts | AC/DC, Stevie Wright, Vanda & Young, John Paul Young, Ray Burgess, The 69ers, Jackie Christian & Flight (Jackie Christian & Target, Grapevine, Inheritance), Winter |
Tony Currenti is an Australian drummer of Italian descent, best known as a session drummer for Australian hard rock band AC/DC (1975 debut album High Voltage, the "High Voltage" single, and 1984 album '74 Jailbreak) and various Vanda & Young projects – including Stevie Wright (international hit "Evie") and John Paul Young (hit singles "Yesterday's Hero" and "I Hate the Music").
Currenti originally comes from the Italian island of Sicily, where he was born on 26 June 1951. He migrated to Australia with his parents, brother and sister in 1967 at the age of 16 with no knowledge of English. After two years, his parents got homesick and went back to Italy. Currenti, at that time 18 years old, played in a band around Sydney and thought he had a future in music, so he decided to stay.
When Currenti was five years old, his dad bought him a piano accordion. He learnt to play drums by bashing his accordion and whatever chairs he could find with spoons. Currenti bought his first set of drums after he got his first pay packet in Australia. It was a second-hand Premier drum kit. Currenti later purchased a white Ludwig drum kit with which he did all the session work in the 70s.
In 1968, while walking down King St. in Newtown, Currenti noticed a band rehearsing in a hall near a church. They had no drummer, so he "played drums" on the chairs and thereafter was asked to join the band. After a few weeks of playing in the church band, Currenti joined another band, Tin Soldiers, which performed on the TV program New Faces. After the performance on New Faces, guitarist Norm Group and Currenti formed a new band called Inheritance.
After working in and around Sydney (they scored a residence at The Groove Room, which lasted for circa 12 months), record label EMI signed Inheritance to a recording contract. In 1969, Inheritance recorded their first single called "Kookie".
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