Vinnie Colaiuta
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Vinnie Colaiuta (born February 5, 1956) is a highly regarded American drummer currently based in Los Angeles. Originally from Pennsylvania, he began playing drums as a child and received his first full drum kit from his parents at the age of 14.
After attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston for a year, Colaiuta relocated to Los Angeles and made a mediocre living playing with lounge bands. His break came in April 1978 at the age of 19, when he auditioned for Frank Zappa, an audition that involved performing the notoriously difficult piece entitled "The Black Page". The audition was successful and Colaiuta went on to work with Zappa as his principal drummer for studio and live performance until 1982.
After leaving Zappa, Colaiuta went on to work with a long list of notable artists, including Joni Mitchell, Barbra Streisand and Sting. In 1994 Colaiuta released a self-titled solo recording. He remains one of the most in demand studio musicians.
Colaiuta has won a total of 18 'Drummer of the Year' awards from Modern Drummer magazine's annual reader polls. These include 10 awards in the 'Best Overall' category. Colaiuta was inducted into the Modern Drummer "Hall of Fame" in 1996.
More recently, Colaiuta played drums with legendary thrash metal outfit Megadeth on their album The System Has Failed, released on September 14, 2004 through Sanctuary Records.it:Vinnie Colaiuta