Hailing from Ewing in New Jersey, Rich Scannella is an independent live and studio drummer who has worked with

Joe Vadala, MRGG, Bob Bandiera, and Strange As Angels, Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, and Lady Gaga among others.



Biography:

Rich Scannella's career has taken him from his native New Jersey to world tours of the USA, Europe, Japan, UK, Canada, Mexico, Portugal, Honduras, Belize, Bermuda, and the Grand Cayman Island. He has worked with some of the most iconic superstars in the music industry.



Rich Scannella began drumming at nine years old under the direction of his father Joe-a public school music teacher and Juilliard School of Music graduate. It was in his father’s jazz band that Rich got his first taste of playing. His dad’s influence of jazz and big band music soon gave way to rock and roll-where Rich discovered Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, and The Doors. As he explains, “my dad would be blasting Sinatra in one room-while my older sister was playing the Rolling Stones and Stevie Wonder in another.” It was this variety that help shape his love of all kinds of music.



Along the way Rich Scannella attended New York City’s premier drum school Drummer’s Collective. Hungry for all the knowledge he could get he focused more intense study with session great Bernard Purdie, and Saturday Night Live drummer Shawn Pelton.

When he was just sixteen years old he became a professional musician by joining the Trenton's Musicians Union Local # 62. Here he honed his skills playing in just about every venue imaginable including bars, clubs, weddings, bar mitzvahs, country clubs, restaurants, hotels, casinos, parks, schools, private parties, and a few flatbed trucks thrown in just for good measure. In this environment he often learned from skilled players often three times his age. And by twenty he was already touring the country with rocks acts such as The Tokens, Gary "US" Bonds, and The Teenages among others.



By the early 2000's Rich Scannella had become in demand in both the studio and on stage. Since 2011 he has been a member of Jon Bon Jovi & the Kings of Suburbia. He also spent many years teaching and in 2012 was appointed music director of the School of Rock in East Brunswick, New Jersey. To date he has played, toured with, and or recorded with dozens of bands and artists including Brian Fallon (The Gaslight Anthem), Adam Duritz (Counting Crows), Joe Elliot (Def Leopard), Michael Anthony (Van Halen), Neal Schon (Journey), Chad Taylor (Live), Hubert Sumlin (Howling Wolf), Tommy Shaw (Styx), Jack Blades (Night Ranger), Chris Kirkpatrick (N’sync), Lou ‘Blue Lou’ Marini (Blues Brothers), Buddahead, Southside Johnny, Lisa Bouchelle (Rock Star Kitchen), Joe Scannella Quartet, Mr. Greengenes, Kristen & the Noise, and John Eddie among others.