Anastasios (Toss) Panos is a Greek-American drummer who has played or recorded with

Dweezil Zappa Dweezil Zappa (born Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa; September 5, 1969) is an American rock guitarist and occasional actor. He is the son of musical composer and performer Frank Zappa. Exposed to the music industry from an early age, Dweezil deve ...

, Sting,

Steven Stills Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. As both a solo act and member of two successful bands, Stills has com ...

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Michael Landau Michael Christopher Landau (born June 1, 1958) is an American musician, audio engineer, and record producer. He is a session musician and guitarist who has played on many albums since the early 1980s with Boz Scaggs, Minoru Niihara, Joni Mitch ...

Robben Ford Robben Lee Ford (born December 16, 1951) is an American blues, jazz, and rock guitarist. He was a member of the L.A. Express and Yellowjackets and has collaborated with Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, George Harrison, Larry Carlton, Rick Sprin ...

Toy Matinee Toy Matinee was a short-lived United States, American rock band, which released one eponymous album. Their sound featured an array of influences, including progressive rock, Album-oriented rock, AOR and Pop music, pop reminiscent of both the Beat ...

, Jude Cole,

Mike Keneally Michael Joseph Keneally (born December 20, 1961) is an American session guitarist, keyboardist, vocalist and composer. Early years and musical influences Keneally started playing music at the age of 7 when he received an electric organ for h ...

John Goodsall John Goodsall (15 February 1953 – 10 November 2021) was a British-American progressive rock and jazz fusion guitarist most noted for his work with Brand X, Atomic Rooster, and The Fire Merchants. Life and career Goodsall was born in Middlese ...

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai (; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a transcriptionist for ...

Mark Hart Mark Hart (born July 2, 1953), is an American musician and multi-instrumentalist best known for being a member of both Supertramp (1986–1988, 1996–2002, 2015–present) and Crowded House (1993–1996, 2007–2019). As well as being a group mem ...

Mel Torme Mel, Mels or MEL may refer to: Biology * Mouse erythroleukemia cell line (MEL) * National Herbarium of Victoria, a herbarium with the Index Herbariorum code MEL People * Mel (given name), the abbreviated version of several given names (including ...

Peter Himmelman Peter Himmelman (born November 23, 1959, in St. Louis Park, Minnesota) is an American singer-songwriter and film and television composer from Minnesota, who formerly played in the Minneapolis indie rock band Sussman Lawrence before pursuing a ...

Andy Summers Andrew James Summers (born 31 December 1942), is an English guitarist who was a member of the rock band The Police. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a band member in 2003. Summers has recorded solo albums, collaborated w ...

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

Vonda Shepard Vonda Shepard (born July 7, 1963) is an American singer, songwriter, music director and actress. She appeared as a regular in the television show '' Ally McBeal'', as a resident performer in the bar where the show's characters drank, danced and c ...

and

Eric Burdon Eric Victor Burdon (born 11 May 1941) is an English singer. He was previously the lead vocalist of R&B and rock band the Animals and funk band War. He is regarded as one of the British Invasion's most distinctive singers with his deep, pow ...

. He is also the owner of Tossimos Recording Studio.

Early life

Panos was born in Athens, Greece. He moved to

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

at age two. At age seven, Toss started learning the drums by playing along to songs that he heard on the radio. He grew up listening to The Ohio Players, James Brown, Elton John and Joni Mitchell. His early influences included Mitch Mitchell and Eric Burdon and The Animals. By age ten Toss was playing gigs at Greek nightclubs on the weekends.

Career

At age 19 he left San Diego and began studying at the Musicians Institute in Los Angeles where Joe Porcaro would be one of his first teachers. After his graduation, Toss was offered a teaching position there which he accepted. His early gigs included working with guitarist

Ike Willis Isaac Willis (born November 12, 1955) is an American vocalist and guitarist who was a regular member of Frank Zappa's studio and touring bands from 1978 until the last tour in 1988. He did not tour with Zappa in 1981 and 1982 because he wanted ...

, a long time member of Frank Zappa's band, until he was invited to audition for

's touring band in the early 90s. He brought a tape of him playing with The Fire Merchants to the audition and immediately got the gig. After Toy Matinee ended, he would continue working with Kevin Gilbert live and in the studio where he played drums on his cover version of "Kashmir". In 1994 Kevin would produce Fire Merchant's "Landlords of Atlantis" album. At the same time Toss performed on jingles, movies and on

The Dennis Miller Show ''The Dennis Miller Show'' is an American syndicated late-night talk show created by and starring comedian Dennis Miller. The show launched in January 1992 and was hosted by the former ''Saturday Night Live'' Weekend Update anchor as an attempt b ...

and

The Roseanne Show ''The Roseanne Show'' was a syndicated talk show hosted by American actress Roseanne Barr following the end of her long-running sitcom. The show featured Roseanne interviewing a mixture of quirky guests along with Roseanne's signature style o ...

. In 2000 Toss joined

's band for a series of live and studio performances. Around that time he also met Robben Ford, with whom he collaborated on two albums, "Truth" and "Soul on Ten". In 2004, he connected with Robi Draco Rosa for a series of live shows and album recordings. His most recent project "Shogun Warrior" with Jeff Babko went on indefinite hiatus in 2012. Currently Toss Panos is part of Galactic Booty Co., made up o
Satnam Ramgotra
on Percussion (

Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Academy Awards, Oscars and four Grammy Awards, Grammys, and has been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmys and a Tony Awar ...

, Inception, Man of Steel), Curt “Kirkee B” Bisquera on Drums (

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

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Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, was a member of the lat ...

Discography (excerpt)

- ''Hat'' (1992) *

Marc Bonilla Marc Henry Bonilla (born July 3, 1955) is an American guitarist and composer, who has worked as a sideman to artists such as Keith Emerson, Ronnie Montrose, Glenn Hughes, Edgar Winter and David Coverdale. Career Early years and film work ...

- ''

American Matador ''American Matador'' is the second studio album by guitarist Marc Bonilla, released in 1993 through Reprise Records. Track listing Personnel *Marc Bonilla – singing, vocals (track 7), guitar, keyboard instrument, keyboard, programming (musi ...

'' (1993) * The Fire Merchants - ''Landlords of Atlantis'' (1994) * Kevin Gilbert - '' Thud'' (1995) *

- ''Sluggo!'' (1998) *

- The Star Spangled Banner (2001) *

- Live 2000 (2001) *

Frank Gambale Frank Gambale (; born 22 December 1958) is an Australian jazz fusion guitarist. He has released twenty albums over a period of three decades, and is known for his use of the sweep picking and economy picking techniques. Recording career Solo ...

- ''Resident Aliens: Live Bootlegs'' (2001) *

Faith Hill Audrey Faith McGraw (; born September 21, 1967), known professionally as Faith Hill, is an American singer and actress. She is one of the most successful country music artists of all time, having sold more than 40 million albums worldwide. Hill' ...

- ''Cry'' (2002) *

Bryan Beller Bryan Beller (born May 6, 1971) is an American bass guitarist known for his work with Joe Satriani, The Aristocrats, Dethklok, Mike Keneally, Steve Vai, James LaBrie of Dream Theater and Dweezil Zappa, as well as his four solo album releases, ...

- ''View'' (2003) *

Robi Draco Rosa Draco Cornelius Rosa Suárez (; born Robert Edward Rosa Suárez, June 27, 1969), also known as Draco Rosa, Robi Draco Rosa or simply Robi or Draco, is a Puerto Rican singer, musician, songwriter and entrepreneur. Rosa originally garnered fame ...

- ''Mad Love'' (2004) *

- ''Como Me Acuerdo'' (2004) *

- "Draco Al Natural" (2005) *

- "Draco y El Teatro Del Absurdo" (2007) *

- "Draco Rosa Teatro Live" (2008) * The Michael Landau Group - ''Live'' (2006) * Tom Heasley - ''Passages'' (2007) *

- ''Truth'' (2007) *

- ''Thanks in Advance'' (2008) *

- ''Soul on Ten'' (2009) * Kevin Gilbert Performs Toy Matinee Live (2010) *

Keith Emerson Keith Noel Emerson (2 November 1944 – 11 March 2016) was an English keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer. He played keyboards in a number of bands before finding his first commercial success with the Nice in the late 1960s. He became ...

- ''Three Fates Project'' (2013) *

Steve Lukather Steven Lee Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to a stea ...

- ''Transition'' (2013)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Panos, Toss 1964 births Musicians from Athens Progressive rock drummers Living people Musicians Institute alumni American people of Greek descent