Gregg Bissonette Biography
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Family and music were very closely connected growing up in Detroit, Michigan with his bassist brother Matt and bandleading dad.
Greg went on to study in north Texas, where he played in the famous "One O'clock Jazz Band."
After college, he joined Matt in the Maynard Ferguson Big Band.
In the early 1980s he moved to Los Angeles, where his ability to seamlessly fit into any style of music made him a legend in session music.
Greg has performed and recorded with an amazing number of different musicians-
Santana, Joe Satriani, Don Henley, Hans Zimmer, Keiku Matsui, Gino Vannelli, Tania Maria, Brian Wilson, Frank Gambale, Carole King, Robin Zander, Yarborough and Peoples, Andy Summers, Linda Rondstat, Steve Lukather, The Mustard Seeds, David Garfield, Enrique Iglesias, Larry Carlton, Pat Boone's Heavy Metal Big Band, Toto, David Lee Roth, Tribute to Jeff Porcaro, Celine Dion, Steve Vai- and many more.
One of the highlights of his career was being invited to perform with the Buddy Rich Big Band in the Buddy Rich Memorial Concert video/CD project. Greg recently started his own solo career with the albums Gregg Bissonette and Submarine.
Greg's trademark is a powerful and inspirational drumming and plus he can be the lead singer and leader of the group.
Drumclinic in Laufenburg - Switzerland
Chris Bucher - Gregg Bissonette - Jimmy Paul Schmid - Heer Musik - Zurich - Switzerland
Joe Porcaro, Steve Gadd, Jim Keltner and Greg Bissonette
Gregg Bissonette on playing with Ringo
I can't even tell what an honor and thrill it is to play with Ringo! He is not only a musical legend, but also a strikingly funny and cool guy in life. He is the drummer I have listened to and loved the most all my life. My brother Matt and I watched the Beatles in 1966 when I was seven and my brother was five. Then they played at the Olympia Hockey Arena in Detroit, Michigan.
Playing with Ringo is like putting on your favorite and most comfortable slippers that you have worn all your life. His rhythmic playing is perfect and he never interferes with the vocals. And when he sings live and plays the tambourine, no one is more into it than he is.
From the above, I will say that in the new Ringo album Ringo Rama, drumming sounds like it has never sounded before.
On our first show with Ringo on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, we performed a song that Ringo wrote about George Harrison called "Never without You". At the end of the first verse, we were all singing "We were brothers through it all....." (We were brothers...), I looked at my brother (who is the best friend and the most beloved bass player), and then at Ringo ( he was the man who made me play the drums) - and I enjoyed it so much that tears began to flow from my eyes.
Gregg Bissonette - Gene Krupa
