Terry Bozzio

Terry Bozzio launched his professional path by serving as drummer in Frank Zappa’s touring ensemble throughout the 1970s, yet he later earned recognition as one of rock’s most adaptable session players and co-founded the visually striking new-wave band Missing Persons with his wife at the time, Dale Bozzio. Born Terry John Bozzio on December 27, 1950, in San Francisco, California, he first experimented with improvised percussion as a child before beginning formal training at age thirteen, prompted by the Beatles’ landmark performance on The Ed Sullivan Show. During the mid- to late 1960s he performed with several neighborhood garage groups, then pursued a music major at Sir Francis Drake High School and College of Marin, where he concentrated on timpani and an array of percussion instruments. By the early 1970s Bozzio was working in theatrical productions such as Godspell and Walking in My Time, while also appearing with jazz-fusion ensembles; his debut recording credit came as the drummer for trumpeter Luis Gasca on the 1972 album Born to Love You. In 1975 he secured his pivotal break by auditioning successfully for Frank Zappa, remaining with the band for three years and contributing to ten albums, numerous tours, and the concert film Baby Snakes. During that period Zappa composed pieces that drew directly from Bozzio, among them “The Black Page” and “Punky’s Whips.” After departing Zappa’s group in 1978, Bozzio came close to joining the jazz collective Group 87—whose members included bassist Patrick O’Hearn and keyboardist Mark Isham—and the established hard-rock outfit Thin Lizzy, yet neither opportunity materialized, although he did appear on Group 87’s self-titled debut album a few years later. In 1979 he instead became the drummer for progressive-rock band U.K., performing on the albums Danger Money and Night After Night as well as their associated tours. That same year Bozzio launched a new-wave venture called Missing Persons with Dale Bozzio and former Zappa guitarist Warren Cuccurullo; the trio’s futuristic sonic and visual identity quickly attracted attention, yielding the hit singles “Words” and “Destination Unknown” plus the gold-certified 1982 debut album Spring Session M. The group and Bozzio’s marriage both dissolved soon afterward, with only two further releases—1984’s Rhyme & Reason and 1986’s Color in Your Life—before the band disbanded. In subsequent decades Bozzio concentrated on recording and touring with an extensive roster of artists that included Robbie Robertson, Gary Wright, Don Dokken, Paul Hyde, Herbie Hancock, Dweezil Zappa, Richard Marx, Jeff Beck, Duran Duran, Explorer’s Club, Billy Sheehan, Steve Vai, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. He also conducted drum clinics nationwide and released the instructional video Solo Drums in 1992. During the late 1990s he issued two albums with the trio Bozzio Levin Stevens—Black Light Syndrome and Situation Dangerous—while collaborating with Chad Wackerman on Solos & Duets, Vols. I & II and producing solo projects such as Drawing the Circle, Chamber Works, and Solo Drum Music, Vols. I & II. In 2001 Bozzio reunited with Missing Persons for a series of live performances.