Doane Perry was born in Mt. Kisco, New York on June 16th 1954. He is currently residing in Woodland Hills, California. Perry:

"I began playing piano at age seven and continued until age eleven when the Beatles came along and changed everything. I discovered the possibility, however unlikely that might have been, of young girls chasing me down the street if I took up the drums. So it began."

When Perry was fourteen he began working weekends with his own band in New York and continued doing that until finishing High School at seventeen, apart from a brief detour as a Baskin-Robbins ice cream vendor. The next year he turned professional despite continuing school which ultimately created a serious conflict (with the school primarily) as Perry was often traveling. This resulted in an either/or decision and he opted for music full time.



Perry more than once stated that he had played piano until he saw Ringo Starr and The Beatles on TV. Some of the other drummers that influenced Perry are Keith Moon, Ginger Baker, Mitch Mitchell, Clive Bunker, John Bonham, a lot of the English guys. Next he discovered all the Jazz guys; Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich, Elvin Jones, Roy Haynes, Max Roach, Art Taylor, who was a real unsung hero of the drums, Barry Altshul, Joe Jones, Sonny Greer, almost all of Duke Ellington's drummers, Roy Brooks. On The Rock Interview Doane Perry continues:

"Then of course there was the great Al Jackson, who did all the Stax Volt recordings and was the drummer with Booker T and the MG’s and Otis Redding and you can't leave out Clyde Stubblefield and Jabo Starks. After that I discovered all the fusion drummers who were blending the power of rock drumming with the subtlety and technique of jazz drummers. Starting with Billy Cobham, who just towered over that music for some time and of course Steve Gadd, a French drummer named Andre Ceccarelli who has such a great touch, as well as Jon Christiansen who did so much beautiful work with ECM. Alphonse Mouzon with McCoy Tyner, Harvey Mason with anyone! I also loved Jerry Marotta with Peter Gabriel -he really carved out his own identity in that group. One of my current favorites is a man from Africa’s Ivory Coast named Paco Sery, simply one of most phenomenal drummers and musicians I have ever heard. He's played with Joe Zawinul's Syndicate for some time and if you ever get a chance to see him I think you'll be absolutely astonished. Peter Erskine and Jim Keltner are also two of my personal favorites for their sheer musicality, phrasing and great note placement. The same has to be said for the late, great Jeff Porcaro, and Carlos Vega another one of my personal favorite all-around drummers. I'm also lucky enough to have some great friends like Gregg Bissonette, Mark Craney, Billy Ward, Myron Grombacher, Marco Minnemann, all of whom I've been influenced by and whom I can sit right next to and steal their licks! Stewart Copeland, Terry Bozzio, Simon Phillips and Neil Peart have also done such original things with their own voices. And I can't forget Vinnie Coliauta, who has just matured into one of the greatest, most musical drummers, as has Steve Smith. There are just so many and I know I'm leaving many people out. There are always new people who I'm discovering and established people who I'm rediscovering again. I guess I will always be an eternal student of the instrument. Keyboard players have always been an enormous influence on me because I think I play drums like a frustrated keyboard player to start with and I just have a natural affinity with that instrument, having played it, although not particularly brilliantly, most of my life, plus it's part of the percussion family.

Outside of drummers I have been influenced by numerous other musicians simply because of their general musicality, composing, phrasing, note placement and joy in music making. The short list would have to include Stephane Grappelli, McCoy Tyner, Joe Zawinul, Yehudi Menuhin, Richard Bona, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Richard Tee, Anthony Jackson, Al Jarreau and Ralph Vaughan Williams, among many others."

As Doane Perry turned professional and had to make a living out of music, he began doing everything he could to gain a wider musical background which ended up being an interesting combination of live and studio work which spanned an unusual cross section of music occurring in New York at that time. Rock, Pop, Jazz, Orchestral, Dance, R&B, Folk, TV and Film scores and every ethnic music imaginable was flourishing at that time in New York. Over the years he has had the great good fortune to work with a wide variety of gifted artists and bands. Some of these artists are, in no particular order: Lou Reed, Bette Midler, Teo Macero and his Big Band, Phyllis Hyman, Todd Rundgren, Baird Hersey and the Year of the Ear, Brenda Russell, Dave Mason, Michel Colombier, Peter Allen, Pat Benatar, Jim Messina, Martha and the Vandellas, Peter Cetera, Dweezil Zappa, Stan Getz, Kitaro and Jon Anderson, Fairport Convention, Laura Branigan, Dionne Warwick, Liza Minelli, Patty Scialfa, Vonda Shepard, Charles Aznavour, Jess Roden, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Bill Champlin, Marc Shaiman, Freda Payne, Jeffrey Osbourne, Diane Warren, Elliot Murphy, Gary U.S.Bonds, Maxus, Hunter/Dragon, Tommy Emmanuel, Richard Clapton, Sharon O'Neil, Jenny Morris, Joey Dee and the Starlighters, Tom Pacheco, Pat Alger and Artie Traum, Adrian Gurvitz, Gary Brooker, Katey Sagal, Debra Holland, Magellan, The Rivets, Scout, Michael Ruff, Marc Cohn, Patty Scialfa, Barnes & Barnes, David Schwartz, James McVay, David Foster, Michael Omartian, Stewart Levine and Paul Rothchild.

"Recently I have been working on an album project with a very gifted young artist named Rachel Hart, a tribute record to Emerson, Lake and Palmer (due out Winter '98), a new and very good offbeat television series entitled "Maximum Bob"with Beau Bridges and a new movie with Walter Matthau and Carol Burnett entitled "The Marriage Fool"."

Doane Perry also worked with Vince DiCola for another "Thread" record, which was released in 1999.