Daniel Peter Seraphine (born August 28, 1948) is an American drummer, record producer, theatrical producer, and film producer. He is best known as the original drummer and a founding member of the rock band Chicago, a tenure which lasted from February 1967 to May 1990.
Seraphine was born in Chicago to John and Mary Seraphine.[1]:6f The family lived in the Dunning neighborhood on Chicago's northwest side. He started playing drums at the age of nine while attending St. Priscilla Catholic grade school. When he was 15 years old, Seraphine withdrew from Steinmetz High School.[2][3] Outside of school he joined a local gang called the JPs.[1]:20–26
In December 1965, after deciding to quit as a professional drummer, he was invited to join Jimmy Ford and the Executives, Dick Clark's road band. Already in the band were Terry Kath on bass and Walter Parazaider on saxophone.[4] After being let go from Jimmy Ford and the Executives when it merged with another local band, Little Artie and the Pharaohs (under the new name, The Mob) the three of them were invited to join a cover band called The Missing Links.[1]:38–39
He continued his education with big band drummer Chuck Flores, followed by two years of study under jazz drummer Jo Jones (also known as Papa Jo Jones) in the mid-1970s.[1]:138
Chicago Transit Authority
Early in 1967, Seraphine approached his two new friends Walter Parazaider (saxophone and woodwinds) and Terry Kath about leaving the cover band they were in and starting a new band with a horn section. Kath switched from bass to guitar, his first love. After the addition of Lee Loughnane (trumpet), James Pankow (trombone), Robert Lamm (keyboards) and Peter Cetera (bass), the band began performing initially as a cover band called The Big Thing (sometimes called The Big Sound), before settling on Chicago Transit Authority, which was soon shortened to Chicago because of threatened legal action by the actual Chicago Transit Authority.[1]:47–72
Chicago
Their producer and manager James William Guercio moved the group to Los Angeles,[1]:65 where they landed a regular gig at the Whisky a Go Go.[1]:77 They subsequently obtained a contract with Columbia Records and recorded their first album — a double album — in two weeks. This eponymous album Chicago Transit Authority was released in 1969. Second only to the Beach Boys in terms of Billboard singles and albums chart success among American bands, Chicago is one of the longest-running and most successful pop and rock groups.
Seraphine and Wolinski also started a production company called Street Sense. Seraphine used his home studio to record demos. A deal was signed with Epic Records with the idea of fostering new talent.[1]:150–151
In 1974, during the peak of the band's career, Seraphine co-founded B'Ginnings, a music venue with capacity of almost 1,000, in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.[1]:142–145
Seraphine was let go from Chicago in May 1990, after disagreements with the band that were chronicled in his book Street Player: My Chicago Story.[6] After his departure, veteran session drummer Tris Imboden joined the band in time for Twenty 1.
California Transit Authority
In early 2006, after about 15 years of hiatus from actively playing music, Danny Seraphine debuted a new band, California Transit Authority (CTA), featuring himself on drums, Marc Bonilla on lead guitar, Mick Mahan on bass guitar, Ed Roth and Peter Fish on keyboards, Mike Wallace on guitar, and Tower of Power singer Larry Braggs on vocals. Seraphine and Bonilla initially put the band together to play charity benefit shows. Their repertoire included several Chicago songs. The response from the public was strong enough to persuade Seraphine to continue and write original material with the other band members. Bill Champlin's son, Will Champlin, later joined the band as vocalist.
CTA released their first studio album, Full Circle, on August 14, 2007, followed by a tour of the United States. The band's second album Sacred Ground was released on March 21, 2013. Former Chicago members like Bill Champlin, Jeff Coffey, Donnie Dacus and Laudir de Oliveira occasionally sat in with the band. As of 2022 Jeff Coffey has joined the band on a permanent basis.
The current lineup (as of 2023) is: Danny Seraphine (drums), Jeff Coffey (vocals/bass), Marc Bonilla (guitar/vocals), Travis Davis (bass/vocals), Ed Roth (keyboards), and Jeff Kashiwa (saxophone).[7]
Other activities
2009 saw the release of Lonely Street, a film for which Seraphine served as an executive producer and the music supervisor. In 2010 he published his aforementioned autobiography Street Player: My Chicago Story.[8] In the same year, he released the biographical and instructional DVD "The Art of Jazz Rock Drumming" produced by The Drum Channel.
Awards and achievements
Seraphine has been ranked by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the top 100 drummers of all time. In 2010, Seraphine received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Cape Breton Drum Festival. In 2011, he also won a Lifetime Achievement Award, Montreal Drum Festival. Additionally, he was recognized by the ASCAP as a co-writer of Pitbull's "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)".
On May 9, 2015, the City of Chicago dedicated the 3500 block of North Normandy Avenue on Chicago's northwest side "Honorary Danny Seraphine Way".[9][10]
Seraphine was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Chicago on April 8, 2016.[11] He was named a Goodwill Ambassador by the Asian Hall of Fame in 2021.[12][13]
He received a Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award at the 63RD ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS (2020)
Endorsements
Seraphine plays Slingerland drums, DW pedals & hardware, Aquarian drumheads, Zildjian cymbals and drumsticks.
With Chicago, Seraphine used Rogers and Slingerland drums; and in the 1970s, he used an array of Slingerland drum kits in both recording and touring and in a variety of configurations. He switched to Yamaha Drums around 1984 before the departure of singer and bassist Peter Cetera. In 1988, he switched to DW, playing their drums until 2025, and still using their pedals and hardware to this day. He had previously used Pro-Mark drumsticks, but eventually switched to using Danny Seraphine signature drumsticks, a line created for him by Zildjian, and for many years, he used Remo heads. In October 2025, Seraphine returned to Slingerland drums.
↑Office of the City Clerk. "Document Tracking Sheet". City of Chicago. Archived from the original on January 8, 2021. Retrieved December 7, 2015.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
