Biography
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Born
15 December 1946 (age 77)
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Born In
Brooklyn, New York, New York, United States
Carmine Appice (b. December 15, 1946 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American rock drummer of Italian ancestry. He is brother to Vinny Appice, who also plays drums professionally.
Appice first came to prominence as the flamboyant percussionist with the late 1960s psychedelic foursome Vanilla Fudge. Appice and bassist Tim Bogert contributed distinctive background harmonies to the group's high-decibel sonic assault. After five albums, Appice and Bogert left Vanilla Fudge to form the blues-rock quartet Cactus, with vocalist Rusty Day and guitarist Jim McCarty (formerly with Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels and the Buddy Miles Express). Appice and Bogert then left Cactus to join Jeff Beck in the power trio Beck, Bogert and Appice.
Appice later joined Rod Stewart's backing band, and played drums on (and co-wrote) such Stewart hits as "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" and "Young Turks." He was a member of the supergroup KGB, featuring Ray Kennedy, Rick Grech, Mike Bloomfield, and Barry Goldberg, and has recorded with Stanley Clarke, Ted Nugent, and Pink Floyd. He has also played in the bands King Kobra, Whitesnake (briefly) a band that featured John Sykes before Appice joined and Blue Murder with Sykes. Although he did not play on the Ozzy Osbourne album Bark at the Moon, he appeared in the music video for the title track and played on part of the tour.
Appice counts among his influences the jazz drumming of Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa, combined with an extensive classical training. Besides his meticulous timekeeping skills, Appice is known for his showmanship, which includes stick tosses and twirls, power fills, and double-bass drum bombs.
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.
In 2006, he formed the drum ensemble SLAMM in which Appice participated on drums playing alongside four young drummers; the resulting show has been described as "Stomp on steroids".
He recorded Carmine Appice's Guitar Zeus: Conquering Heroes (2009). This was the third album in his Guitar Zeus series. These albums have featured guitarists such as Jennifer Batten, Brian May, Ted Nugent, Richie Sambora and Yngwie Malmsteen.
He lent his talents to the Sly Stone CD I'm Back! Family & Friends, on which he plays on the Sly classic "Stand!" It was released on August 16, 2011.
2011–2012 saw Carmine performing Drum Wars shows with his brother Vinny Appice and guitarist Michael Hund, as well a reformation of King Kobra with Johnny Rod, Mick Sweda, and David Henzerling, with Paul Shortino replacing Marcie Free on lead vocals. This lineup released an eponymous album, King Kobra, in April 2011 on the Frontiers label, which received critical acclaim. A new King Kobra album was released in 2013, titled King Kobra II, featuring the song "Have a Good Time", for which a music video was filmed in the fall of 2012 at Count's Vamp'd in Las Vegas Valley.
Appice published his memoir, Stick It!: My Life of Sex, Drums & Rock 'n' Roll, in 2016.
In 2021, Appice released "Energy Overload". The album is credited to Appice Perdomo Project which is a collaboration with Multi Instrumentalist Fernando Perdomo
Solo albums:
Carmine Appice (1981)
Carmine Appice's Guitar Zeus (1995)
Carmine Appice's Guitar Zeus 2: Channel Mind Radio (1997)
Carmine Appice's Guitar Zeus Japan (1999)
Carmine Appice's Guitar Zeus Korea (2002)
V8 (2008)
Carmine Appice's Guitar Zeus: Conquering Heroes (double CD) (2009)
Sinister (2017) .. As Appice (with his brother Vinny Appice)
Carmine Appice's Guitar Zeus 25th Anniversary (2021)
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