Don Mancuso (born March 26, 1955) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

and

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

best known for his role as guitarist and co-writer for the

rock band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...

Black Sheep In the English language, black sheep is an idiom that describes a member of a group who is different from the rest, especially a family member who does not fit in. The term stems from sheep whose fleece is colored black rather than the more comm ...

as well as The Lou Gramm Band and The Voice of Foreigner. He also has a successful solo career and continues to work with

Phil Naro Phillip Sampognaro (March 13, 1958 – May 3, 2021), known professionally as Phil Naro, was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and guitarist, known for his participation in the hard rock bands Talas, Chain Reaction, and Coney Hatch. H ...

in DDrive. He is also working with Regi Hendrix on his first solo effort.

Biography

Dee/Donald Mancuso attended Greece Olympia High School in Rochester, New York, and graduated in 1973. He attended the College of Marin for music and graduated from Monroe Community College with an AAS degree in Electronics Engineering in 1988.

Pre-solo work

Mancuso began his music career playing guitar in Black Sheep. After the band released their self-titled ''Black Sheep'' and ''Encouraging Words,'' he continued to write and record with groups such as Cheater, Lou Gramm Band, Johnny Smoke, The Park Ave Band, Phil Naro and Celtic Fire.

The Lou Gramm Band

In 2004, Mancuso was asked to join his former Black Sheep bandmate (and former Foreigner frontman) Lou Gramm in his new Lou Gramm Band, which also included another Black Sheep alumnus,

Bruce Turgon Bruce Turgon (born April 25, 1952) is an American bass guitarist, guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and producer. Bruce has played in several bands throughout his career including: Foreigner, The Lou Gramm Band, Shadow King, Steve Stevens, Warr ...

. The band plays old Foreigner hits as well as Lou Gramm Band material, and released a Christian rock album, for which Mancuso wrote than half the music the was released in North America, Europe and Asia on Frontiers Records. .

Discography

* The Lou Gramm Band: ''The Lou Gramm Band'' (2009) * DDRIVE ** ''Straight Up The Middle'' (2007) ** ''3D'' (2010)

Melodic Revolution Records Melodic Revolution Records (MRR) was formed in October 2004 by Nick Katona and his wife Jennifer. It began out as a music store in Clinton, NY selling Compact Discs, DVDs, Vinyl and memorabilia. In October 2005, an art gallery was added to the ...

Solo albums

* ''Now You See It'' (1999) * ''DDRIVE'' (2004) * ''No Strings Attached'' EP,

(2011) * ''It's Christmas'', featuring Lou Gramm, Single

(2013)

Other albums/DVDs

* ''Black Sheep'', Black Sheep, Capitol Records (1975) * ''Encouraging Words'', Black Sheep, Capitol Records (1976) * ''Ten Cent Love Affair'', Indie, Cheater (1985) * ''Ready or Not'', Lou Gramm, Atlantic Records (1987) * ''Bridge'', Red Heart, Indie (1997) * ''Into Your Life'', Tom Passamonti, Indie (1998) * ''Crime Don't Pay Yet'', Indie, Johnny Smoke (1999) * ''Flames Of Eviction'', Celtic Fire, Indie (2001) * Glass Mountain, Phil Naro, Indie (2002) * ''Jessi Hamilton'', Jessi Hamilton, Indie (2002) * ''Jessi Hamilton'', Indie (2005) * ''Don Mancuso's DDRIVE'', GFI Records (2004) * ''DDRIVE Straight Up The Middle''

(2006) * ''The Lou Gramm Band'', Spectra Records/North America-Frontiers Records/Europe & Asia (2009) * ''DDRIVE 3D with special guest''

Billy Sheehan William Sheehan (born March 19, 1953) is an American musician. He is best known for playing the bass guitar with acts such as Talas, Steve Vai, David Lee Roth, Mr. Big, Niacin, and The Winery Dogs. He is also known for his "lead bass" playing ...

, including full color 3D art, poster and glasses,

(2010) * ''No Strings Attached'' EP,

(2011) * ''It's Christmas Single'',

(2012) * ''DDrive Critical Mass'',

(2013) * ''Lisa Gee & the 422 Love & Hate'', Indie (2013) * ''DDrive Intermission'' EP,

(2014) * ''PFP Paul Fisher Project Beginners Luck'', Indie (2014) * ''Don Mancuso & DDrive Live at the Rochester International Jazz Festival'' DVD, Indie (2014) * ''Don Mancuso & DDrive To Live & To Love'' CD, Indie (2017) * ''Lisa Gee Various releases with Kenny Aronoff & James LoMenzo'' CD, Indie (2018) * ''Lips Turn Blue'' CD, MIG Music Germany (2022) * ''Lisa Gee EP Love Thing with Carmine Appice & James LoMenzo'' CD, Deko Ent (2023)

External links

Don's official website

Reverb Nation

References

Living people American people of Italian descent Musicians from Rochester, New York Black Sheep (rock band) members 1955 births American rock guitarists College of Marin alumni American male guitarists 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians {{US-rock-guitarist-stub