Virgil Donati
| Virgil Donati | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Born |
22 October 1958 Melbourne, Australia |
| Genres | Instrumental rock, progressive metal, jazz fusion |
| Instruments | Drums, keyboards |
| Years active | 1972–present |
| Associated acts | Planet X, Ring of Fire, Allan Holdsworth, Steve Vai, CAB, The State, Southern Sons, Derek Sherinian, Tribal Tech, Michel Polnareff, Soul SirkUS, Scott Henderson, Tony MacAlpine, U.K., Kazumi Watanabe |
| Website | virgildonati.com |
Virgil Donati (born 22 October 1958) is an Australian drummer, frequent drum clinician and a producer. He is currently playing with Planet X, Allan Holdsworth, and his own band among other projects. Virgil is perhaps most well known for his fast, highly technical drumming skills. He holds the drum sticks in the traditional style and is also proficient at the keyboard. Virgil also performed with Jack Jones (Irwin Thomas) in a Van Halen tribute band in Melbourne known as Hans Valen prior to Southern Sons.
Virgil Donati was born on 22 October 1958 in Melbourne, Australia of Italian descent. He got his first drumset at age 2. He started playing soon after with his father's showband, and kept on doing these shows until he was around 6 years old. He joined his first major rock band and signed with his first major record label at the age of 15. The band was first called Cloud Nine, but was later renamed Taste, with whom he recorded 3 albums. Soon after at age 16, Donati left school focusing mainly on the drums, but also piano. At age 19 Donati travelled to the U.S. to study with Philly Joe Jones, and at Dick Groves School in Los Angeles. He also took lessons from snare drum specialist Murray Spivack and Rob Carson.
Donati returned to Australia at the age of 21 where his career finally took off. Playing jazz with Allan Zavod and Brian Brown, and rock with Peter Cupples' band, he was a busy touring and session drummer in Australia. His own pop band, The State turned into Southern Sons, which led to Donati's first taste of international fame, with their self-titled debut selling multi-platinum and producing the international hit single 'Heart In Danger'.
During the 1980s Donati's drumming was a feature of the Melbourne-based jazz-rock fusion band 'Changes' (Virgil Donati Drums, Joe Chindamo Keyboards, Mark Domoney Guitar, Steve Hadley Bass, John Barrett Saxophone), which later became 'Loose Change' (a quartet - same lineup as 'Changes' minus Saxophone). The big break came in 1995 where Donati's first solo album Stretch was released. In 1999 Donati released On The Virg: Serious Young Insects through Melbourne based record company Vorticity Music.
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