Virgil Donati (born 22 October 1958) is an Australian

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

, composer and producer. He holds the drum sticks in the traditional style and is also proficient at the

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

. Donati formed

Planet X Following the discovery of the planet Neptune in 1846, there was considerable speculation that another planet might exist beyond its orbit. The search began in the mid-19th century and continued at the start of the 20th with Percival Lowell's ...

with

Derek Sherinian Derek Sherinian (born August 25, 1966) is an American keyboardist who has toured and recorded for Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, and Joe Bonamassa, among others. He was also a member of Dream Theater from 1994 to 1999, is the founder of Planet X and ...

and was the band's principal composer on all their albums. He also performed in Melbourne with Jack Jones (Irwin Thomas) in a

Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen was known for its energetic live shows and for the virtuosity of its lead gu ...

tribute band known as Hans Valen before inviting Jones into Donati's own bands

The State A state is a centralized political organization that imposes and enforces rules over a population within a territory. There is no undisputed definition of a state. One widely used definition comes from the German sociologist Max Weber: a "stat ...

and

Southern Sons Southern Sons was an Australian rock band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria in 1989 by members of The State (band), The State along with lead vocalist and guitarist Irwin Thomas, who was then using the stage name Jack Jones. ...

. Donati is widely regarded as one of the most technically advanced drummers of all time.

Early life and career

Virgil Donati was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

descent. He got his first drumset at age 2. He started playing soon after with his father's showband, and kept on doing these shows until he was around 6 years old. At age 6 he started taking piano lessons. He joined his first major rock band and signed with his first major record label at the age of 15. The band was first called ''Cloud Nine'', but was later renamed

Taste The gustatory system or sense of taste is the sensory system that is partially responsible for the perception of taste (flavor). Taste is the perception produced or stimulated when a substance in the mouth reacts chemically with taste receptor ...

, with whom he recorded 3 albums. Soon after at age 16, Donati left school focusing mainly on the drums, but also piano. At age 19 Donati travelled to the U.S. to study with

Philly Joe Jones Joseph Rudolph "Philly Joe" Jones (July 15, 1923 – August 30, 1985) was an American jazz drummer. Biography Early career As a child, Jones appeared as a featured tap dancer on ''The Kiddie Show'' on the Philadelphia radio station WIP. He was ...

, and at Dick Groves School in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. He also took lessons from snare drum specialist Murray Spivack and Rob Carson.

Success and bands

Donati returned to Australia at the age of 21. He then performed jazz with

Allan Zavod Allan Zavod (16 October 1945 – 29 November 2016) was an Australian pianist, composer, jazz musician and occasional conductor whose career was mainly in America. Zavod completed a music degree from the Melbourne Conservatorium, University ...

and Brian Brown, and played with

Peter Cupples Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

' band. Before moving to Los Angeles, Donati furthered his success by performing with the likes of Tommy Emmanuel, Tina Arena, Jon Stevens and visiting international acts like Melissa Etheridge, Branford Marsalis, and Tribal Tech. Virgil also recorded and toured with his own bands Southern Sons, Loose Change and On The Virg. From the late 1990s and onwards Donati recorded and toured with acts like Derek Sherinian (with whom he formed the progressive fusion outfit 'Planet X') Steve Vai, Allan Holdsworth, Michel Polnareff and Soul SirkUS.

Influences

With his father's choice of records, including

Louie Bellson Louie Bellson (born Luigi Paulino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni, July 6, 1924 – February 14, 2009), often seen in sources as Louis Bellson, although he himself preferred the spelling Louie, was an American jazz drummer. He was a composer, ...

and

Buddy Rich Bernard "Buddy" Rich (September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987) was an American jazz drummer, songwriter, conductor, and bandleader. He is considered one of the most influential drummers of all time. Rich was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York ...

albums, Donati quickly became a fan of those great jazz drummers, trying to emulate their solos. The first rock drummer to make a big impact on him was

Ian Paice Ian Anderson Paice (born 29 June 1948) is an English musician, best known as the drummer and last remaining original member of the rock band Deep Purple. He is often cited as one of the greatest drummers of all-time. He remains the only member ...

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...

. Donati said, "I was blown away with his playing, his clarity. Back in the early '70s he seemed to be an articulate drummer with a lot of soul in his playing. I loved his power and strength and the way he articulated his phrasing. I loved his approach." In a ''Modern Drummer'' magazine article of June 1999, Donati prefers playing with traditional grip. He says there, "I grew up playing traditional grip and persevered with it even under the physical duress of rock bands. I decided that it's just how I wanted to play. Now it's very natural for me. Besides, I've surmounted all the problems of being able to play with enough power. Traditional grip does not limit me in any way. There are certain movements around the drumset that feel good with traditional, and believe it or not, there're certain things I'll play that feel better in my left hand than in my right. That said, I would not necessarily recommend traditional grip. Frankly, I think the disadvantages involved with traditional grip outweigh the advantages. It is a far more difficult grip to maintain and to develop power with. Any student starting out would be better off focusing on matched. But for some reason, maybe just because it just used as much any more, traditional grip seems to be more hip."

Reception

Virgil Donati is widely regarded as one of the most technically advanced drummers of all time. Bassist

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, ...

, after performing with Donati and Mike Keneally, described him in a blog post with the following words: "Imagine the technical accuracy of

Mike Mangini Michael Anthony Mangini (born April 18, 1963) is an American musician and current drummer of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. He has also played for bands and artists such as Annihilator, Extreme, James LaBrie, and Steve Vai. Befor ...

, the off-the-rails phrasing of

Vinnie Colaiuta Vincent Peter Colaiuta (born February 5, 1956) is an American drummer who has worked as a session musician in many genres. He was inducted into the ''Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 1996 and the ''Classic Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 2014. Colai ...

, the beat-displacement of

Dave Weckl Dave Weckl (born January 8, 1960 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American jazz fusion drummer and the leader of the Dave Weckl Band. He was inducted into the ''Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 2000. Biography Weckl started playing his first se ...

, and the rock sensibility of

Tommy Aldridge Tommy Aldridge (born August 15, 1950) is an American heavy metal and hard rock drummer. He is noted for his work with numerous bands and artists since the 1970s, such as Black Oak Arkansas, Pat Travers Band, Ozzy Osbourne, Gary Moore, Whitesnak ...

, and that's pretty much Virgil Donati—all of it, all at once, all the time. Talk about being taken along for a ride". Ex-

Dream Theater Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of the ...

drummer

Mike Portnoy Michael Stephen Portnoy (born April 20, 1967) is an American musician who is primarily known as the former drummer, backing vocalist, and co-founder of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. In September 2010, Portnoy announced his departur ...

called Donati "super, super technical" and cited him as a drummer he "can't replicate", saying that " edoes things that I physically can't do." Donati's piano playing can be heard on his 2016 album 'The Dawn of Time' as well as in various online videos where he's playing the like of

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

and

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

Discography

Solo

*''Stretch'' (1995, Musos Publications) *'' Just Add Water'' (1997, Thunder Drum Records) *''Serious Young Insects (On The Virg band)'' (1999, Vorcity Music) *''Made in Australia (Gambale, Donati, Fierabracci)'' (2007, Wombat Records) *''In This Life'' (2013, Self-released) *''The Dawn of Time: Orchestral Works'' (2016, Self-released) *''Ruination'' (2019, Self-released)

With Planet X

*''

Universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. Acc ...

'' (2000, InsideOut Music) *'' Live from Oz'' (2002, InsideOut Music) *'' MoonBabies'' (2002, InsideOut Music) *''

Quantum In physics, a quantum (plural quanta) is the minimum amount of any physical entity (physical property) involved in an interaction. The fundamental notion that a physical property can be "quantized" is referred to as "the hypothesis of quantizati ...

'' (2007, InsideOut Music)

With Ring of Fire

*''The Oracle'' (2001, Avalon Records) *''Burning Live Tokyo'' (2002, Frontiers, Marquee) *''Dreamtower'' (2002, Frontiers) *''Lapse of Reality'' (2004, King Records)

Jane Rutter

Blo (re-released as Titania's Dream with Peter Bowman)

With Southern Sons

*''

'' (1990, RCA) *'' Nothing But the Truth'' (1992, RCA) *''

Zone Zone or The Zone may refer to: Places Climate and altitude zones * Death zone (originally the lethal zone), altitudes above a certain point where the amount of oxygen is insufficient to sustain human life for an extended time span * Frigid zone, ...

'' (1995, RCA)

With The State

*''Elementary '' (1989)

With Icefish

*''Human Hardware'' (2017)

Other

Jon Stevens Jon Stevens (born 8 October 1961) is a New Zealand singer, best known for his work with Noiseworks and ''Jesus Christ Superstar''. Biography 1980–1986: career beginnings and ''Jezebel'' Stevens was born in Upper Hutt, New Zealand, and is o ...

- '' Are U Satisfied'' (1993, Columbia Records) *

- ''

'' (1999, Magna Carta) *Ivan Grand Solberg, Golden State Mariachi Ministry - ''Lie Detector For Upgraded Strings And Orchestra'' (1999, Grand Fusion Science) *

Mark Boals Mark Robert Boals (born December 5, 1958) is an American heavy metal vocalist and occasional bassist, best known for his vocals with Yngwie Malmsteen. He is currently a member of the band Foundry. Boals' first album with Malmsteen, 1986's '' ...

- ''

Ring of Fire The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) is a region around much of the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur. The Ring o ...

'' (2000, Frontiers) * Steve Walsh - ''

Glossolalia Speaking in tongues, also known as glossolalia, is a practice in which people utter words or speech-like sounds, often thought by believers to be languages unknown to the speaker. One definition used by linguists is the fluid vocalizing of sp ...

'' (2000, Magna Carta) * Uncle Moe's Space Ranch - ''Uncle Moe's Space Ranch'' (2001, Tone Center) *Mark Boals - ''Edge of the World'' (2002, Frontiers) *

Erik Norlander Erik Norlander (born 6 February 1967) is an American musician known for his work in the progressive rock genre. From 2007 to 2014, he was the touring and recording keyboardist for Asia Featuring John Payne. He is also the managing director of ...

- ''Music Machine'' (2003, Think Tank Media) * Freakhouse - ''Beautiful Misery'' (2003, Reality Entertainment) * Bunny Brunel's L.A. Zoo - ''Revisited'' (2004, Mascot Records) *

Dave Weiner David Jason Weiner (born September 24, 1976) is an American musician, best known for being one of Steve Vai's touring guitarists. He also posts instructional videos, called the "Riff of the Week", every Wednesday on YouTube, iTunes and his own w ...

- '' Shove the Sun Aside'' (2005, Favored Nations) *

Sir Millard Mulch Sir Millard Mulch, real name Carl King (often incorrectly referred to as Paul Mavanu from a satirical e-book based on his album of the same name that used that alias), (born Willoughby, Ohio) is a musician who has worked with Virgil Donati and D ...

- '' How to Sell the F#@!ing Universe to Everybody Once and for All - Hemisphere III: Hermes'' (2005, Mimicry Records) *

Soul SirkUS Soul SirkUS is a band that initially featured singer Jeff Scott Soto, guitarist Neal Schon, bassist Marco Mendoza, and drummer Deen Castronovo, later replaced by Virgil Donati. History After the failed Planet Us project with Sammy Hagar did not ...

- ''World Play'' (2005, Frontiers Records) * Uncle Moe's Space Ranch - ''Moe's Town'' (2007, Tone Center) * Alex Argento - '' EGO '' (2007, self-produced) * Devil's Slingshot - ''Clinophobia'' (2007, Mascot Records) * CAB - ''

Theatre de Marionnettes ''Theatre de Marionnettes'' is the fourth studio album by the band CAB, released on October 20, 2009 through Brunel Music.

'' (2009, Brunel Music) *Derek Sherinian - '' Molecular Heinosity'' (2009, InsideOut Music) *

Seven the Hardway Seven the Hardway is a US progressive rock band formed in 2009 consisting of Tony MacAlpine, Virgil Donati, Mark Boals, Doug Shreeve and Stefanía Daniel. Their self-titled debut album, released in August 2010 on Mascot/Provogue Records, was mix ...

- ''Seven the Hardway'' (2010, Mascot Records) *

Tony MacAlpine Tony MacAlpine (born August 29, 1960) is an American musician and composer. In a career spanning four decades, he has released twelve studio albums. MacAlpine is best known as an instrumental rock and heavy metal solo guitarist, although he has ...

- ''

'' (2011, FN Entertainment) *

Kiko Loureiro Pedro Henrique "Kiko" Loureiro (born 16 June 1972) is a Brazilian guitarist. He has been a member of several heavy metal bands, including Angra and Megadeth. Career Loureiro began studying music and playing acoustic guitar at age 11. He studie ...

- Sounds of Innocence (2012,

Victor Entertainment , also known as in Japan, is a subsidiary of JVCKenwood that produces and distributes music, movies and other entertainment products such as anime and television shows in Japan. It is known as JVC Entertainment in countries where Sony Music Ent ...

) *Daniel Piquê
OLDBOY (websingle)
(2013, Ultra Violence) *Lalu - ''Atomic Ark'' (2013, Sensory Records) *synecron - Nathan Frost 013, Nathan Frostref> *Semantic Saturation - Solipsistic (2013, Self-released) *

Nili Brosh Nili Brosh is an Israeli-American guitarist and songwriter. She has performed and/or recorded with Danny Elfman, Cirque du Soleil, Dethklok, Steve Vai, Tony MacAlpine, Paul Gilbert, Andy Timmons, Guthrie Govan/ The Aristocrats, Stu Hamm, Drago ...

- '' A Matter of Perception'' (2014) *AFTERSHOCKS - Michael Kocab, Glenn Proudfoot, Virgil Donati, Billy Sheehan (2014) *Beyond Turbines - Roberto Badoglio,

Steve Hunt Steven Hunt (born 1958) is an American jazz pianist and composer. He has released two studio albums, recorded extensively, and toured the world. Music career In 1977, Hunt graduated from Brazoswood High School in Clute, Texas. He then attend ...

, Virgil Donati, Bjoessi Kluetsch (2015)

Videography

Virgil Donati: Modern Drummer Festival 1997Virgil Donati: Live in StockholmVisit Virgil's Online StoreVirgil's Educational Lessons on isYOURteacher

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donati, Virgil 1958 births Living people Australian expatriates in the United States Australian heavy metal drummers Australian people of Italian descent Australian rock drummers Australian session musicians Male drummers People from Melbourne People with speech impediment Soul SirkUS members Planet X (band) members CAB (band) members Jazz fusion drummers