Jimmy DeGrasso

Jimmy DeGrasso (born March 16, 1963) is an American heavy metal drummer.

Jimmy DeGrasso
Jimmy DeGrasso performing with Black Star Riders in 2014
Background information
Born (1963-03-16) March 16, 1963
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)Drummer
InstrumentsDrums
Years active1984–present
Associated acts

DeGrasso was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and graduated from Liberty High School in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in 1981 where he was a member of the Grenadier Band.

DeGrasso played his first gigs with Mama's Boys and Lita Ford before eventually working with Y&T and Megadeth.[1] Also as session or touring musician for White Lion (1991), Fiona (1992), Suicidal Tendencies (1992-1995), MD.45 (1996), Alice Cooper (1995-1997).

After his dismissal from Megadeth around 2002, DeGrasso worked with Dave Ellefson's F5, and toured with David Lee Roth, Ministry, Alice Cooper (briefly replacing Eric Singer), Hail, Dokken, Ratt and was the drummer of Black Star Riders from december 2012 until March 2017.

Career

DeGrasso originally auditioned for Ozzy Osbourne and played on the demos of The Ultimate Sin before Ozzy and Bob Daisley had a fallout and Ozzy chose to replace the entire band except for Jake E Lee. DeGrasso then joined the veteran metal band Y&T in 1986, replacing their original drummer Leonard Haze. He remained with the group into the '90s. In 1991, he briefly filled in as White Lion's touring drummer when Greg D'Angelo left the band.[2] He would go on to play on Dave Mustaine's (Megadeth vocalist/guitarist) side project band, MD.45 in 1995. Mustaine asked him to join Megadeth in 1998 as drummer and continue the band's Cryptic Writings Tour. He was asked to play with Megadeth five days before the next show. He walked around with a walkman all day to memorize the songs. DeGrasso recorded and toured behind Megadeth's Risk album in 1999–2000, The World Needs A Hero in 2000–2001 and was featured on Megadeth's first ever live CD and DVD release, Rude Awakening in 2002.

DeGrasso performing in 2004

DeGrasso has performed at the Modern Drummer Festival in 2002, Ultimate Drummers Weekend in Australia, Drummer Live in the United Kingdom and toured with Stone Sour (Slipknot vocalist Corey Taylor’s side project) and guitar legend Ronnie Montrose. Jimmy played with David Lee Roth Band in 2006 and joined with Ministry on their final tour in 2008.

In late 2008 DeGrasso came back to Alice Cooper band to fill in for Eric Singer while Singer played a few KISS shows in the United States. DeGrasso has also been the full-time drummer for heavy metal band F5 and Hail (along with ex-Megadeth bassist Dave Ellefson). In summer of 2012 DeGrasso toured with Dokken, filling in for Mick Brown who was touring with Ted Nugent.

In December 2012, DeGrasso was announced as the drummer with Thin Lizzy spin-off band, Black Star Riders.[3] Black Star Riders' first album All Hell Breaks Loose was released in May 2013.[4]

In early 2014 it was announced that he would temporarily be filling-in for Bobby Blotzer in Ratt, and played with them on the Monsters of Rock cruise. He is the first drummer to have filled in for Blotzer, since he joined the band in 1982. He filled in for Blotzer again on Monsters of Rock Cruise in October 2016 before becoming official touring drummer in 2017 and left the band along DeMartini and Cavazo in June of the same year

He currently resides in San Jose, California, where he used to run his own drum shop, San Jose Pro Drum, which has now closed.

Bands as drummer

Discography

References
  1. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Biography: Megadeth". Allmusic. Retrieved October 19, 2010.
  2. "They Will Rock You - Jimmy DeGrasso interview".
  3. "Thin Lizzy to End, Black Star Riders to Begin". noise11.com. December 20, 2012.
  4. "Black Star Riders announce debut album title". Black Star Riders official website. March 8, 2013.
  5. "Jimmy DeGrasso on tour with Ministry". Drummerszone. November 23, 2007. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
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