DANNY SERAPHINE

'Daniel Peter "Danny" Seraphine' (born August 28, 1948 in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.) is an American drummer, record producer, theatrical producer and film producer, best known for being the original drummer and a founding member of the rock group Chicago, a tenure which lasted from February 1967 to May 1990.

Contents

Early life

Tenure with Chicago

Dismissal from Chicago

Life after Chicago

California Transit Authority

External links

Early life

Danny Seraphine was born in Chicago and raised in the Little Italy district. He started playing drums at the age of nine. When he was 15 years old, Seraphine dropped out of high school, but eventually studied privately with famed percussionist Bob Tillis at DePaul University, where members of Chicago's horn section were also studying.
He continued his education with big band drummer Chuck Flores, followed by two years of study under jazz drummer Jo Jones (also known as Papa Jo Jones) in the mid-1970s.

Tenure with Chicago

By the late 1960s, Seraphine was drumming in various bands, including one with teen friends Walter Parazaider (saxophone and woodwinds) and Terry Kath (guitar). Named at first The Big Thing, the band eventually became Chicago after the addition of Lee Loughnane (trumpet), James Pankow (trombone), Robert Lamm (keyboards) and Peter Cetera (bass).
Their producer and manager, James William Guercio, moved Chicago out to Los Angeles and they became the house band at the Whisky A Go Go. They subsequently obtained a contract with Columbia Records and recorded their first album - a double album - in just two weeks. The album was titled after the band's name, ''The Chicago Transit Authority'', and released in 1969. (The band would later shorten their name to Chicago).
While he did not contribute significantly as a songwriter at first, Seraphine eventually co-wrote several songs for the band: "Lowdown" (a hit for the band), "Little One," "Take Me Back to Chicago," "Show Me the Way," "Birthday Boy" and "Street Player." His writing partner was often the keyboardist for Chaka Khan and Rufus, David "Hawk" Wolinski.
In 1974, former Sergio Mendes session man Laudir DeOliveira had been added to the band as a percussionist. In recent interviews, James Pankow has said that DeOliveira was brought on board at Terry Kath's insistence to keep the rhythm section on track. According to Pankow, Kath and other members of the band thought Seraphine was not playing up to standard. Seraphine responded to this by saying,"I’m the one who brought Laudir DeOliveira. No one else in the band. I jammed with him, and loved his playing so much I said I got to bring him into the band. Because we were doing a lot of Latin stuff at that time. I don’t know what Jimmy, what he’s smoking or what he’s drinking to come off and say that. To be honest with you, if you knew Jimmy Pankow, you’d know not to take it seriously. It’s unfortunate." Reference

Dismissal from Chicago

In early March 1990, following shows in Belfast, Dublin, and Birmingham, Seraphine played his final two shows with Chicago at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, England.
In May 1990, Chicago's manager, Howard Kaufman, called Seraphine to inform him that the other members of the band had held a meeting and voted him out as their drummer.
In interviews, Seraphine has been reluctant to go into specifics regarding his dismissal from the band, but has indicated that political behind-the-scenes machinations were responsible. Band member James Pankow has asserted that Seraphine did not spend enough time practicing, and that live shows were adversely affected due to his performances, with the last show at the Hammersmith Odeon being the final motivating factor for Seraphine's dismissal.
In an interview Seraphine said, "The reason I’m no longer in Chicago is the lead singer, the new lead singer, Jason Scheff and Bill Champlin, didn’t like the fact that a drummer was running the band." Later he went on to say, "Out of all people that should be criticizing me for not practicing, it shouldn’t be Jim Pankow because there’s a guy that has really neglected his craft."Reference

Life after Chicago

After being dismissed from Chicago, Seraphine settled for many years in Colorado, where he kept himself busy with a variety of musical and theatrical projects, including producing local musical acts. Seraphine has since moved back to the Los Angeles area.
In more recent years, Seraphine has turned his attention to producing and resourcing investment for Broadway shows, which included bringing the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical "Bombay Dreams" to Broadway following its London run.
2007 will see the release of ''Lonely Street'', a film for which Seraphine served as an executive producer and the music supervisor.

California Transit Authority

In early 2006, Danny Seraphine debuted a new band, California Transit Authority (CTA), featuring himself on drums, Marc Bonilla on lead guitar, Mick Mahan on bass guitar, Ed Roth and Peter Fish on keyboards, Mike Wallace on guitar, and Robert Mason on vocals. Seraphine and Bonilla initially put the band together to play for several charity benefit shows.
Following a positive response, they put together a full 70 minute set. Their first Los Angeles area performance took place at the Canyon Club on January 27, 2006.
Included in the new band's repertoire are several Chicago songs, including "Make Me Smile," "25 or 6 to 4," "South California Purples," "Happy Cause I’m Going Home," "Devil’s Sweet" and Steve Winwood's "I'm A Man". Also included is a be-bop number co-written by Seraphine, which features a drum solo Seraphine describes as "challenging". Seraphine considers "Something Different" (a hard-driving jazz-rock cover of a Cannonball Adderley song) to be the band's signature piece, which highlights Bonilla's virtuosity as both a player and an arranger.
CTA released their first studio album, ''Full Circle'', on August 14, 2007, followed by a tour of the United States.

External links

★ California Transit Authority

★

★ Drummerworld entry

★ Lonely Street film website