David Thomas Donato (March 21, 1954 - February 2, 2021) was an American singer known for his involvement in

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...

. He recorded several demos with the band and rehearsed throughout 1984 and 1985.

Career

Black Sabbath

"After Gillan, we were living out in America, in LA again," recalled guitarist

Tony Iommi Anthony Frank Iommi () (born 19 February 1948) is a British musician. He co-founded the pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and was the band's guitarist, leader and primary composer and sole continuous member for nearly five decades. I ...

. "We were auditioning all sorts of different singers… and this Dave Donato was one of the ones who we did try a few times… He seemed to look alright and whatever else, and seemed to be okay, but it was just auditions. We never actually had him in, as a part of the band. But it happened that ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...

'' or somebody came out to do an interview and, of course, he was there at the time, and they took a picture of everybody. So automatically this guy suddenly becomes part of the band – according to everybody else." Contrary to reports, Donato was not fired after an interview with ''Kerrang!''. The band soon fell apart, and Iommi formed an entirely new Sabbath the following year. The Donato demos – containing songs such as "No Way Out", "Dancing with the Devil", "Don't Beg the Master" and "Sail On" – remain out of the public domain, but a 1984 rehearsal session featuring Donato,

Geezer Butler Terence Michael Joseph "Geezer" Butler (born 17 July 1949) is a English musician and songwriter. He is best known as the bassist and primary lyricist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath. He has also recorded and performed with Heaven & Hell ...

, and Bill Ward surfaced online in 2006. This was produced by

Bob Ezrin Robert Alan Ezrin (born March 25, 1949) is a Canadian music producer and keyboardist, best known for his work with Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Kiss, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Peter Gabriel, Andrea Bocelli and Phish. As of 2010, Ezrin' ...

White Tiger

After Sabbath, Donato joined the

glam metal Glam metal (also known as hair metal or pop metal) is a subgenre of heavy metal that features pop-influenced hooks and guitar riffs, upbeat rock anthems, and slow power ballads. It borrows heavily from the fashion and image of 1970s glam r ...

band

White Tiger The white tiger or bleached tiger is a leucistic pigmentation variant of the Mainland tiger. It is reported in the wild from time to time in the Indian states of Madhya Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, in the Sunderbans region and ...

with former

KISS A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...

guitarist

Mark St. John Mark Leslie Norton (February 7, 1956 – April 5, 2007), better known as Mark St. John, was an American guitarist best known for his brief stint with the hard rock band Kiss from April to November 1984. His work can be heard on the band's 1984 ...

, who was in a band with Donato prior to joining Kiss. Donato recorded a seven track demo in 1988 with White Tiger; the intention was to record a second album but White Tiger split up before the album was ever completed.

Later career

In 1990, Donato joined The Keep founded by former Kiss members

Peter Criss George Peter John Criscuola (born December 20, 1945), better known by his stage name Peter Criss, is a retired American musician, best known as a co-founder, original drummer, and vocalist of the hard rock band Kiss (band), Kiss. Criss establi ...

and his former White Tiger bandmate St. John. This lineup was essentially White Tiger, except for Criss replacing Brian James Fox on drums. They only performed live just once, on May 2, 1990 at a drum clinic at the

Guitar Center Guitar Center is an American musical instrument retailer chain. It is the largest company of its kind in the United States, with 294 locations. Its headquarters is in Westlake Village, California. Guitar Center oversees various subsidiaries in ...

music store in Lawndale,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Death

David Donato died on February 2, 2021, after a long illness. He is interred at Forest Lawn in Cypress, CA.

Discography

Album

*''White Tiger'' (1986) *

References

* ;Notes {{DEFAULTSORT:Donato, David White Tiger (band) members American people of Italian descent Black Sabbath members 1954 births 2021 deaths