Vincent Colaiuta (born February 5, 1956) is a highly regarded drummer based in Los Angeles. Originally from Brownsville, Pennsylvania, he began playing drums as a child and received his first full drum kit from his parents at the age of 14.

After attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston for a year, Colaiuta relocated to Los Angeles and made a mediocre living playing with lounge bands. His break came in April 1978 at the age of 22, when he auditioned for Frank Zappa, an audition that involved performing the notoriously difficult piece entitled "The Black Page". The audition was successful and Colaiuta went on to work with Zappa as his principal drummer for studio and live performances. Colaiuta's performances on Zappa's albums Tinsel Town Rebellion, Joe's Garage and Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar are considered by many drummers to be among the most astounding ever recorded.

After leaving Zappa, Colaiuta went on to work with a long list of notable rock and pop artists, including Gino Vannelli, Joni Mitchell, Barbra Streisand, Sandy & Junior, Clannad, Wang Chung, Chaka Khan, and Jeff Beck. He has also appeared with many notable jazz musicians, including Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Jimmy Haslip, Quincy Jones, the Buddy Rich Big Band and Buell Neidlinger.

In 1990, Colaiuta successfully auditioned for the drum spot in Sting's touring band in support of his album The Soul Cages. Colaiuta remained as a member of Sting's band for the next seven years. He declined the offer to go out on the road for the Brand New Day tour in 1999 due to the unusually grueling amount of time that Sting prefers to cover the globe. Colaiuta's studio work with Sting can be heard on Ten Summoner's Tales (1993), Mercury Falling (1996), three songs on Brand New Day (1999) and two songs on Sacred Love (2003). In September of 2003, Vinnie returned to Sting's touring lineup in a brief promotional tour of Sacred Love, but once again declined the offer to participate in the world tour.

Colaiuta released a self-titled solo recording in 1994, and still remains one of the most in demand studio musicians playing on countless albums[2], film soundtracks, TV and radio jingles. His dedication to self-improvement is legendary: Dom Famularo, a famous drum educator and Colaiuta's friend, once told a story about Colaiuta opening his door while practising on a drum pad; after a few minutes of a chat on the door step, Colaiuta said: "I'm such a bad host, I haven't offered you anything! Do you want a pad?"

Colaiuta has won a total of 18 'Drummer of the Year' awards from Modern Drummer magazine's annual reader polls. These include 10 awards in the 'Best Overall' category. Colaiuta was inducted into the Modern Drummer "Hall of Fame" in 1996. The publication also cited Colaiuta as being the most important drummer of our time.

More recently, Colaiuta recorded and toured with Faith Hill, recorded with the thrash metal outfit Megadeth on their album The System Has Failed, and has most recently toured with Jeff Beck and Herbie Hancock.

In 1990, Colaiuta teamed up with the Zildjian Cymbal company to create the A Custom line of cymbals,[3][4] based on the world's best-selling A Zildjian cymbals. These bright, fast-decaying cymbals can be heard on Sting's Ten Summoner's Tales and countless other recordings, often mixed with K Zildjian and K Custom models. In photographs from the UnReel Drum Book, it is clear that Vinnie's kit used on the recording of Randy Waldman's first solo title "Wigged Out" features a ride cymbal bearing the iconic K logo on the underside, suggesting that Vinnie uses cymbals from his private collection (as the only cymbals with the K underside logo date back to the 70's and early 80's) for recordings.

Colaiuta endorses Gretsch Drums and has his own signature kit. He often uses USA Custom drums in Europe and his signature drums in the US and the far east, but recently used the New Classic line of drums when touring with Herbie Hancock and the Renown Maple series live with Jeff Beck.

A very versatile drummer, Vinnie Colaiuta is impossible to pigeonhole as Just a specialist in only one or two areas. He is capable of playing very Credible pop jazz, or recording with Buell Neidlinger and Marty Krystall in a post Bop quartet. Colaiuta's talents were obvious from an early age. After Attending the Berklee School of Music, he worked with Frank Zappa (1978) and then performed with Joni Mitchell for several years. Settling in Los Angeles in 1983, Colaiuta worked for seven years as a very busy studio musician. In 1990 he went back on the road with Sting and in 1994 had his first record date as a leader, the self-titled Vinnie Colaiuta on the Stretch label.

Vinnie Colaiuta is regarded as one of the most influential drummers of all time; in fact, Modern Drummer has been quoted as saying that he is "the greatest drummer of our time."



The Brownsville, Pennsylvania native was a late bloomer – all of 14 when he got his first real drum set and started taking lessons, but he quickly absorbed his early influences (The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and The Dave Clarke Five) along with rock and jazz virtuosos (John Bonham, Buddy Rich, and Tony Williams).



Vinnie Colaiuta emerged in the late 1970's, and took the world by storm. He spent his formative years backing up some of the most demanding bandleaders, Frank Zappa, and Gino Vannelli.



Vinnie Colaiuta had a knack for difficult time signatures, and rhythmic invention, making him a perfect match for such groups. His unique polyrhythmic style was garnished while attending Berklee and studying under Gary Chaffee. He played his first "name" gig with the legendary Al Kooper In 1978, but he is best known as the sideman for Frank Zappa, whom he began playing for soon after Vinnie relocated to Los Angeles.



Being a preferred session player had its perks as well, earning him respect from such diverse artists as Sting, Barbra Streisand, Joni Mitchell, Al Kooper, Don Henley, and a plethora of others. During the 80's Vinnie was one of the most sought after session players, recording literally hundreds of albums with the likes of B.B. King, Ray Charles and Billy Joel to name a few.



In 1990, Vinnie Colaiuta was invited to audition for Sting, to be in his new touring quartet in support of the album, Soul Cages. Upon their first time playing together, they created a firm musical bond, which is evident to this day. This opportunity allowed him to play for stadium-sized crowds the world over, as well as record future albums with Sting.



In 1994, Vinnie Colaiuta released his self-titled first solo album, with an unbelievable list of guest stars on the Stretch Records label. He was also instrumental in Zildjian's designing the A Custom line. Vinnie continues to be very busy between his many gigs as a session player, performer, producer, and teacher of clinics.