Tony Currenti

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Tony Currenti
Born (1951-06-26) 26 June 1951 (age 73)
Fiumefreddo di Sicilia, Catania, Italy
Origin Sydney
Genres
Occupation(s) Musician
Instruments Drums
Years active 1969–77, 2014–present
Labels EMI, Alberts
Associated acts AC/DC, Stevie Wright, Vanda & Young, John Paul Young, Ray Burgess, The 69ers, Jackie Christian & Flight, Grapevine, Inheritance, Winter

Tony Currenti is an Australian drummer of Italian descent, best known as a session drummer for Australian hard rock band AC/DC (1975 debut album High Voltage and the "High Voltage" single) and various Vanda & Young projects – including Stevie Wright (international hit "Evie") and John Paul Young (hit singles "Yesterday's Hero" and "I Hate the Music").[1]

Biography

Currenti originally comes from the Italian island of Sicily, where he was born on 26 June 1951.[2] He migrated to Australia with his parents, brother and sister in 1967 at the age of 16 with no knowledge of English. After two years, his parents got homesick and went back to Italy. Currenti, at that time 18 years old, played in a band around Sydney and thought he had a future in music, so he decided to stay.[3]

When Currenti was five years old, his dad bought him a piano accordion. He learnt to play drums by bashing his accordion and whatever chairs he could find with spoons. Currenti bought his first set of drums after he got his first pay packet in Australia. It was a second-hand Premier drum kit. Currenti later purchased a white Ludwig drum kit with which he did all the session work in the 70s.[3]

First bands

File:Tony Currenti with his brand new Pearl drum kit, May 2014.jpg
Tony Currenti with his brand new Pearl drum kit, which fans purchased for him via fund-raising campaign organised by The Youngs author Jesse Fink and You Am I drummer Rusty Hopkinson.

In 1968, while walking down King St. in Newtown, Currenti noticed a band rehearsing in a hall near a church. They had no drummer, so he "played drums" on the chairs and thereafter was asked to join the band. After a few weeks of playing in the church band, Currenti joined another band which performed on the TV program New Faces. After the performance on New Faces, guitarist Norm Group and Currenti formed a new band called Inheritance.[2][3]

Inheritance and the first recording contract

After working in and around Sydney (they scored a residence at The Groove Room, which lasted for circa 12 months), record label EMI signed Inheritance to a recording contract. In 1969, Inheritance recorded their first single called "Kookie".[3]

The band was later joined by two female musicians and changed their name to Grapevine, which had a six-month residence at Jonathan's nightclub in Sydney. After that residency ended, the two female members parted ways with the band and a name change was forced on them after they found out another group had it registered. Around 1971, the band met with Harry Vanda and George Young who suggested the band's handsome Greek-born singer assume the name "Jackie Christian".[3][4]

In 1972, they recorded a cover version of The Who's "Join Together", which was released as Grapevine featuring Jackie Christian with B-side called "That's Life".[5]

Jackie Christian & Flight

The band adopted the new name Jackie Christian & Flight. The first single, recorded under Jackie Christian handle, was "Rosy" (with "You Chose a Fine Time" as a B-side) and released in 1972. In 1974, the band recorded two songs penned and produced by Vanda & Young, namely "Love" and "The Last Time I Go to Baltimore". "Love" was chosen as an A-side and a single was released on the Alberts label.[6] Polydor released it under Jackie Christian & Target name in Canada.[7]

Flight also recorded another Vanda & Young song called "Love Fever", but the producers did not like Jackie Christian's vocals and eventually gave the song to Ray Burgess, who recorded verses over Jackie Christian & Flight's track (which included backing vocals). The song was released in 1975 and was a huge hit for Burgess.[3][8]

Session work for Vanda & Young

AC/DC

It was during this time in early 1974 that George Young approached Currenti and asked if he would record with his two younger brothers in a band called AC/DC. The album was called High Voltage[9] and Tony played drums on all tracks but one ("Baby, Please Don't Go" was recorded by Peter Clack), including the later single "High Voltage"[10] (which appeared on the T.N.T. album[11] and the international release of High Voltage[12]). After recording the album, Currenti was asked to join the group but declined for two reasons; one, Currenti was loyal to his current band Jackie Christian & Flight and two, he was an Italian citizen with an Italian passport which did not allow him to tour freely in England or Europe with the band without being called up for military service.[1][3]

Stevie Wright

Several months later, Jackie Christian & Flight split up and Currenti stayed on with Vanda & Young as a session musician, which included working with Stevie Wright on an album called Black Eyed Bruiser in 1975[13] (Tony was drummer on all but two tracks) and even his international number one hit "Evie" (specifically part three "I'm Losing You") released the previous year.[1][3][14]

John Paul Young

For the following 12 to 18 months, Currenti worked for bands such as The 69ers and a little known band called Winter.[2] He recorded tracks for John Paul Young including hit singles "Yesterday's Hero" (1975)[15] and "I Hate the Music" (1976).[3][16]

Life outside the music business

In early 1979, after getting married, Currenti decided to leave the music industry and open his own pizzeria in Hurlstone Park, Sydney. He now runs Tonino's Penshurst Pizzeria in Penshurst, Sydney.[2]

Currenti was rediscovered by Australian writer Jesse Fink who interviewed him for his book The Youngs: The Brothers Who Built AC/DC. Since the release of the book, Currenti has started playing the drums again and enjoys an increasing popularity among AC/DC fans.[17] Since 2014, Currenti has completed two tours of the UK and Europe with various AC/DC tribute bands and received civic honours in his hometown of Fiumefreddo di Sicilia in Sicily.

In May 2016, Currenti was a special guest for the unveiling of a fan-funded statue of Bon Scott at the 10th Annual Bonfest in Kirriemuir, Scotland, alongside former AC/DC bassist Mark Evans and Bon Scott friend and author Mary Renshaw. [18]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 https://www.facebook.com/tony.currenti.9/info
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 http://www.southernfm.com.au/general/tony-currenti-session-drummer-for-acdc-and-stevie-wright-on-purple-haze/
  4. ↑ http://purepop1uk.blogspot.com/2010/10/jackie-christian-flight-love-last-time.html
  5. ↑ http://www.globaldogproductions.info/e/emi-unified10000-series-oz.html
  6. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20140718232241/http://alextsu.narod.ru/borderlinebooks/australia/c7.html#Jackie_Christian
  7. ↑ http://www.45cat.com/record/2065250
  8. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/Ray-Burgess-Love-Fever/release/5625538
  9. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/ACDC-High-Voltage/master/50133
  10. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/ACDC-High-Voltage-Soul-Stripper/master/146702
  11. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/ACDC-TNT/master/8648
  12. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/ACDC-High-Voltage/master/8437
  13. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/Stevie-Wright-Black-Eyed-Bruiser/release/2898872
  14. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/Stevie-Wright-Evie-Parts-1-2-3/master/385423
  15. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/John-Young-Yesterdays-Hero-The-Next-Time/master/392104
  16. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/John-Paul-Young-I-Hate-The-Music/master/294296
  17. ↑ http://ultimateclassicrock.com/acdc-tony-currenti-performs/
  18. ↑ https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/angus-mearns/164254/rock-on-bon/

External links

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