Joe Bergamini

Joe Bergamini is a drummer from United States. He is the frontman of the jazz fusion band 4 Front. Snce 2000, Bergamini has been playing in the progressive rock band Happy the Man in its reunion, and appears on their 2005 album, "The Muse Awakens".

As a New Jersey native who grew up immersed in the New York City music scene, moving into work on Broadway seemed a natural progression for Joe. He performed in both the New York and national tour productions of the Billy Joel musical "Movin’ Out", and currently subs on drums at the shows "Jersey Boys" and "In the Heights". In addition to performing with Billy Joel (when Billy made one of his many appearances at "Movin' Out"), Bergamini has also performed with Dennis DeYoung and Deborah Gibson.

Bergamini was born in Belleville, New Jersey, and grew up in East Hanover. While attending the New Jersey Institute of Technology and getting his bachelor's degree in architecture, Joe studied intensively with the legendary drum instructor Dom Famularo on Long Island, as well as teachers Al Miller, John Riley, and Jim Chapin. During his college years he taught high school drum lines, built his teaching practice, and played in many bands. During the 1990s, some of these bands included: Eternal Vision (where he met 4Front bassist Frank La Placa), Friday's Child, Outskirts (with his brother Steve on guitar), Big Radio, and others. At the time he developed quite a local following as the drummer in the Rush tribute band Power Windows, of which he was a member from 1993 until they disbanded in 2005. It was in Power Windows that Joe first worked with Zak Rizvi, co-founder of 4Front.

Recognized internationally as an educator, Joe has given hundreds of drum clinics in schools, retail stores, and conventions. He has appeared at the Ultimate Drummers Weekend (Melbourne, Australia), and The Cape Breton Drum Festival (Nova Scotia, Canada), KOSA (Vermont, USA), and the Sonny Emory Drumset Camp (Atlanta, GA USA).

In addition to performing and teaching, Bergamini is very active in the percussion industry. After many years as a columnist and contributing writer for "Modern Drummer" magazine (to which he still contributes), he served a brief stint as the drum editor for Carl Fischer publications. Looking for a more progressive company to work with, he approached DCI publications and Hudson Music co-founders Rob Wallis and Paul Siegel, and in 2007 became the Senior Drum Editor for Hudson Music. His responsibilities with Hudson include overseeing all of their print projects, as well as co-producing DVDs.

An active author, Joe;s works include:"MD Classic Tracks" (Modern Drummer Publications),"Turn It Up and Lay It Down: The Book" (Alfred Publications),"It's Your Move" (co-author with Dom Famularo) (Alfred Publications),"Drum Techniques of Led Zeppelin" (Alfred Publications),"Operation: Rockenfield" (Carl Fischer),"Drumming Out Of the Shadows" (Carl Fischer),and "Polyrhythmic Potential" (co-author with Chris Pennie) (Carl Fischer).He has won three "Modern Drummer" readers poll awards and one "Drum!" magazine "Drummy" for his books.

He is also an artist endorser of Tama drums, Sabian cymbals, Vic Firth sticks, Evans drumheads, and Latin Percussion.

Bergamini maintains websites at [http://www.joebergamini.com] and [http://www.myspace.com/joebergamini] which contain his news, schedule, and multimedia clips.