Masterclass with Liberty DeVitto
online
Los Angeles, CA, USA
California
34.0522342
-118.2436849
Description
INTERACT LIVE with Liberty as he discusses his extensive career and plays a few of your favorite beats! This class will be moderated by Billy Amendola, Modern Drummer editor at large.
About Liberty:
Just pick up one of the 150 million copies of Billy Joel records sold in the last 30 years and you’ll hear why Liberty is called “THE songwriter’s drummer.” Spanning his career, Liberty has played with Paul McCartney, Stevie Nicks, Mick Jagger, Roger Daltrey, Ronnie Spector, Karen Carpenter, Phoebe Snow, Elton John, Meatloaf, and many, many more. In 2013 he was inducted into The Classic Drummer’s Hall of Fame. He has been repeatedly featured in articles, documentaries, and educational publications for over 40 years, and was most recently featured in the documentary “A Matter of Trust – The Bridge to Russia.”
Born to Sicilian immigrants, his mother Josephine Sardisco was raised on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Her mother was a seamstress, and her father a tailor; carrying his sewing machine on his back twice daily, as he walked across the bridge to his factory job in Brooklyn. Liberty’s father, Vincent, was raised in East New York, Brooklyn, one of the 11 children born to his immigrant parents from Naples. Liberty’s father and his 4 brothers served their country in WWII. Vincent served in the 101st Airborne Division and was part of the Invasion of Normandy. Although 5 brothers went into the war, only 4 returned. Liberty is named after his Uncle Liberatori who made the ultimate sacrifice for his country. The story of the 5 Devitto brothers is featured in Tom Brokaw’s book, “The Greatest Generation Speaks.”
After WWII, Vincent returned to Brooklyn and met Josephine. Liberatori (Liberty) DeVitto was born in Brooklyn, New York, on August 8, 1950, second-generation Italian-American. Life for Liberty began in a one-room furnished apartment. Liberty’s mother would empty a dresser drawer, line it with a baby blanket, and use that for his bed. His mother says it was the radio on top of the dresser, which she kept on all the time, that gave Liberty his love for music. After Liberty’s father became a NYC Police Officer in the 77th Precinct in Brooklyn, he decided to join the migration to the suburbs and moved his new family to Long Island in 1951.
On February 9 1964, Liberty’s family, like every other family in America, had the TV tuned to the Ed Sullivan show. There they were, in black and white, “The Beatles”- since that moment Liberty’s life would change, forever. The camera panned the audience and showed girls screaming and crying. Liberty panned the room and saw his sister and her friends screaming and crying. All of a sudden it hit him, "What a great way to meet girls.”
In June 1968, Liberty graduated from Seaford High School. By November he was on the road with Detroit rocker Mitch Ryder banging out Mitch’s hits, “Jenny Takes a Ride,” “Devil with a Blue Dress" and “Sock It To Me Baby.” Right after Mitch Ryder, Liberty landed a gig with Long Island alumni, Richie Supa, and had his first recording experience. The album, "Supa's Jamboree" was recorded in Atlanta, 1969-70, and was produced by Buddy Buie of the Classics 4 and Atlanta Rhythm Section Fame. The album was released on Paramount Records and a tour immediately followed. Liberty was driving the band equipment van from Cleveland, Ohio, back home to Long Island when the van hit black ice and flipped off the side of the road, rolling four times. Liberty had sustained serious injures, which brought him a year of not playing the drums. To ease back in, he took a steady gig at a catering hall on Long Island. During those years, the group, “Topper” was formed. A club owner once called Topper, “the worst band to ever play his club.” Topper eventually became Billy Joel’s band and went to create such legendary songs as, “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” and “New York State of Mind.”
Thirty years with Billy Joel, and countless other projects, Liberty is still going strong. He is proud to have been a part of the 9-11 recovery efforts, visiting Ground Zero and supporting the first responders with Billy Joel a few days after the tragedy and performing to raise money to rebuild his city. He has also played for supporters at “The Tunnel to Towers Run” commemorating Stephen Sills heroic effort to save fellow New Yorkers on 9-11-01.
He can be seen live with his Brooklyn, New York-based rock and blues band, “The Slim Kings,” who are working on their sophomore album, following their successful first album and single, “Waterloo,” which was released on charity CD “Songs For Sandy II” along with releases from Paul McCartney and Dave Stewart. The band recently supported ZZ Top on their area gigs.
He has drummed with English Invasion icon Billy J. Kramer since 2005.
Liberty is an Honorary Board Member of “Little Kids Rock,” a non-prof organization that puts instruments and music programs in underserved public schools worldwide. Each year, Liberty is the house drummer for the yearly LKR Gala, driving the beat for such performers as Bruce Springsteen, Tom Morello, Elvis Costello, and many others. This year, Little Kids Rock has partnered with the NYCDOE and Berklee for an unprecedented music program that will bring $10 million of resources to 60,000 NYC public school children. 500,000 kids have passed thru LKR doors.
Liberty remains a band member for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, lectures globally for Sticks and Skins, and the “Sessions” panel and is a founding member of “The NYC Hitsquad.” Liberty is also a member of “Clean Getaway,” a band and program dedicated to rock ‘n’ roll and sober living. On June 9, 2014, Liberty was recognized as an Italian American of Distinction by the New York Conference Of Italian American State Legislators for his many accomplishments and sustained commitment to the Italian Americans of New York State.
Liberty continues to lecture, interview, and play all over the world, from Krakow, Poland, to Beijing, China to Santiago, Chile, and everywhere in between. In 2014, the original “Billy Joel Band” was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall Of Fame. It was a proud moment for Liberty, Richie Cannata, Russell Javors, who continue to perform as “The Lords Of 52ND Street”, and the family of Doug Stegmeyer. In 2018 Liberty was a featured artist in the hit documentary “Hired Gun”.
Liberty has also participated in PSA’s for the government to combat drug and alcohol abuse.
Liberty currently resides in Brooklyn, New York, and travels frequently with his wife, Anna, to visit his mother’s family in Sicily. He continues to love what he was born to do, DRUM.
Liberty has a biography book being released on July 15th by Hudson Music.
This listing has no upcoming events
Start:
2020-09-09T17:00:00-07:00
End:
2020-09-09T18:00:00-07:00
Category
Music
Tickets
General Admission
100.0
USD
25
