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Liberty DeVitto (born August 8, 1950) is an American rock drummer. He is best known for his work as a drummer for New York singer-songwriter Billy Joel's recording and touring band, but he has also played with the NYC Hit Squad and has been a session drummer on recordings of other artists. ==Life and career== DeVitto was born in New York City, of Italian ancestry, where his father was a police officer at the New York Police Department. He taught himself to play the drums after seeing The Beatles on their appearance on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' in February 1964. DeVitto got his big break in the music business when he was hired to play drums for Billy Joel in the late 1970s. In an online interview, DeVitto describes how Joel's classic late 1970s-early 1980s band first came together: Billy and I used to play the same club in Plainview, Long Island, called "My House." He was 17 and in a band called The Hassles and I was 16 and in a band called The New Rock Workshop. We would watch each other play and acknowledge each other in passing. In 1974, he was living in Los Angeles and had already released ''Piano Man'' and ''Streetlife Serenade''. He used studio musicians for the recording and different guys out on the road. I was playing in a band called Topper with Doug Stegmeyer and he got the gig to play bass with Billy on the "Streetlife" tour. He told Doug that he wanted to move back to New York and find a permanent band he could record and tour with on a regular basis. Doug recommended me because Billy was looking for a New York-type drummer, aggressive and hard hitting, and the rest is history. The three of us recorded the basic tracks for ''Turnstiles'' and we both recommended Russell Javors and Howie Emerson, who played guitars in Topper and with the addition of Richie Cannata on saxophone, the "Billy Joel Band" was born.〔(Blog Interview with Liberty DeVitto )〕 In addition to his work with Joel, DeVitto has also been an active session musician working with other big acts such as Carly Simon, Phoebe Snow, Karen Carpenter, Stevie Nicks, Rick Wakeman, Bob James and Meat Loaf. After working with Joel for 30 years, DeVitto was discharged from drumming duties for the 2006 Billy Joel tour for an unknown reason. Up to that point, he had the longest running tenure in Joel's band, starting with the recording of 1976's ''Turnstiles''. He currently endorses Mapex drums, pedals & hardware, Sabian cymbals, Evans drumheads, Latin Percussion and Pro-Mark drumsticks. He has endorsed Tama Drums, Zildjian cymbals and Remo drumheads in the past. Devitto appeared on the November/December 2013 cover of ''Making Music'' magazine to discuss his life and career.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Liberty DeVitto’s Secrets to Drumming Success )〕 On October 23, 2014, DeVitto, Cannata, and Javors (with Stegmeyer, posthumously) were inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame, primarily for their work with Joel. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Liberty DeVitto」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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