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Born
in 1983 near Lecce (Italy), Andrea began at a young age
to "strike" objects that recall the drums: pots
and cups became the first approach of an innate passion.
Shortly after, Andrea was offered his first keyboard that
he inevitably ended up playing likedrums. That
is until he received a real drum set at age 10. After
a few months of practice, Andrea becomes part of his first
(of many) band with older musicians with whom for a few
years will have many live experiences; meanwhile, he began
to take lessons from some local drummers. At age 15, Andrea
neglected the instrument in order to devote to his other
passion: the radio. For 6 years he matures through experiences
as a Sound Engineer and DJ on several local radio stations,
outstanding clubs, and squares of south Italy.
In 2002, he achieved a diploma in the arts at the "Liceo
Artistico Statale" (High school) of Lecce. In 2003,
Andrea returned to his great passion for the drums in
which
he became dedicated in exclusive way. In 2004, Andrea
began a musical adventure with "Cosmica", an
Italian rock band. Over a four year span, Cosmica performed
hundreds of live shows, recorded 3 studio albums, won
several band competitions, and appeared on many Italian
TV and radio shows. During this time, Andrea also had
various musical experiences
with other Italian bands/groups like "Kaotica"
(nu-metal band), "The Wizard" (a revisited classic
rock cover band), "PDE" (a drummer & percussionist
ensemble directed by Raffaello Murrone), and a Dream Theater
cover band. He also collaborated with the acting company
"Erasmus International Musical and Theatre"
to record soundtracks of the musicals "Footloose"
and "Grease".
In 2007, Andrea's personal drum performances (recorded
in his little home studio) attracted considerable success
on his YouTube video channel. His drum arrangement of
the Super Mario Bros theme exceeded 4 million views in
less than a year allowing Andrea to appear in the ranking
of the top worldwide musicians and to be quoted by international
press/media.
In
November 2007, Andrea won the "Drummer of Tomorrow"
Italian competition "technical section", issued
by Mapex Drums and Casale Bauer, which becomes official
endorser. He also won a scholarship and performed in the
European final held in Frankfurt, Germany, in March 2008.
In May 2008, Andrea joins the great family of artists
"Meinl", becoming endorser of the cymbals produced
by the famous German company. In July 2008 he achieved
the bachelor in "Communication Sciences" at
the University of Salento, in which he gained work experience
as webmaster,
creating and managing some websites including the one
of the same bachelor course.
In September 2008 he moved to Los Angeles, California
to further his musical studies at the famous "Musicians
Institute" in Hollywood; just a year later he gained
the "Certificate in Performance" with honors.
In September 2009 he performed in Spain on the prestigious
stage of "La Rioja Drumming Festival" along
with some drumming legends such as Billy Cobham, Virgil
Donati, Jojo Mayer and Dom Famularo and opened the concert
for Michel Camilo and Tomatito, firing and conquering
the spanish crowd. In November 2009 he opened, with a
special live performance, the winter edition of "DreamHack"
(Sweden), the world's largest computer festival that hosted
over 15,000 people from all over the world.
In 2010, returned to Italy, Andrea devoted himself primarily
to work in studio, recording for various international
artists inluding the Dutch singer and songwriter Chielio
Reedijk, the American band "EdToShred" and the
Italo-English acting company "Erasmus International
Musical and Theatre" for which recorded the soundtrack
for the new musical "Alice in Wonderland".
In
the summer 2010 he performed for UNESCO in Otranto (Italy)
and on September 12, he is in the line-up of the famous
Dutch "Drumworld Festival", with big name drummers
like Steve Gadd, Mel Gaynor (drummer for the band "Simple
Minds"), Todd Sucherman and Mike Terrana.
On January 21, 2011, he released his debut solo album
that features a 36-piece symphonic orchestra. "Classical
Drumming", title of the album created and produced
by Andrea (published by the label "Vadrum Records"),
immediately starts to get important feedbacks and results,
such as obtaining the first position in the "Amazon
MP3" chart in the U.S., Japan and France, and as
many high placements in other countries and other digital
stores like "iTunes".
Meanwhile Andrea takes an intense live activity in the
South of Italy, both as solo artist and with various bands
and musicians, ranging from rock to dance music, from
classical to Italian song.
In March 2011 he joined the prestigious "Zildjian"
Family of Artists, the legendary world's leading cymbal
company and in december of the same year he became endorser for the brand "Tama", the historical Japanese drums and hardware manufacturer.
Today his video channel has over 60,000,000 views and
is the italian musician's most subscribed of all time
(from the birth of YouTube Italy). Andrea's video performances
also continue to travel around the world via the local
media: among others, his arrangement of "The Barber
of Seville" by Rossini was broadcast recently in
one of the most popular television shows in Brazil, "Programa
do Jô" (TV Globo).
Last
Update: December 5, 2011
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