Carmine Appice

Carmine Appice (/ˈkɑːrmaɪn æˈpiːs/; born December 15, 1946) is an American rock drummer. He is best known for his associations with Vanilla Fudge; Cactus; the power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice; Rod Stewart; King Kobra; and Blue Murder. He is the older brother of Vinny Appice. Appice was inducted into the Classic Drummer Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2014. He is also a bass player.

His best-selling drum instruction book The Realistic Rock Drum Method was first published in 1972 and has since been revised and republished as The Ultimate Realistic Rock Drum Method. It covers the basic subjects of rock rhythms and polyrhythms, linear rudiments and groupings, shuffle rhythms, hi-hat and double bass drum exercises. Appice influenced John Bonham's use of bass drum triplets and oversized drum kit. Roger Taylor, Tommy Lee, Ian Paice and Eric Singer have also credited Appice with influence on their drumming styles.

Appice received classical music training, and was influenced early on by the work of jazz drummers Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa. Appice first came to prominence as the drummer with the late 1960s psychedelic band Vanilla Fudge. He contributed distinctive background harmonies with bassist Tim Bogert. After five albums, the pair left Vanilla Fudge to form the blues rock quartet Cactus, with vocalist Rusty Day and guitarist Jim McCarty. Appice and Bogert left Cactus to join Jeff Beck in the power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice. Appice joined Rod Stewart's backing band in 1976, co-writing songs such as "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" and "Young Turks". He also played drums on a track on Paul Stanley's eponymous solo album (1978).

He was a member of KGB, which featured Ray Kennedy, Ric Grech, Mike Bloomfield and Barry Goldberg. Appice has recorded with artists such as Stanley Clarke, Ted Nugent and Pink Floyd. Appice and Bogert briefly joined Bob Weir's Bobby and the Midnites. He has also played with King Kobra and (alongside John Sykes) in Blue Murder. In late 1983 Appice toured with Ozzy Osbourne in support of his gold-selling Bark at the Moon album, but shortly afterward was fired from the backing group. Though Osbourne had a good relationship with him, the singer's wife and manager Sharon detested Appice, and the decision to fire him was strictly hers.

Appice recorded Caso Cerrado (1995) with the Argentine guitarist Pappo. They were also joined by bassist Tim Bogert on four songs, including "P. B. A. Boogie". He spent 1999 touring Japan with Bogert and Char in a unit called CB&A, with a live album released the following year. In 2000, Appice formed the power trio DBA with Bogert and Rick Derringer, and was reunited once again with Bogert when they reformed Vanilla Fudge.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.