Charles Arnold Burgi III (, born August 15, 1952,

Montclair, New Jersey Montclair is a Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a commercial and cultural hub of North Jersey and a diverse ...

) is an American drummer. He has performed with many rock bands and musicians, ranging from local

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

-area artists to international groups, throughout his prolific career. He is the current drummer for The

Billy Joel Band Billy Joel is an American singer-songwriter and pianist who has used various musicians both in studio and for live performances. The band began with the recording of his first album as a solo artist in 1971; it stabilized around 1975 and underwe ...

Career

Raised in

, Burgi graduated in 1970 from Montclair High School, where he played drums at school and local community events as a student. After having performed on several album sessions, Burgi earned a spot with the jazz fusion band,

Brand X Brand X were a British jazz rock band formed in London in 1974. They were initially active until 1980, followed by reformations between 1992–1999 and 2016–2021. Despite sometimes being considered to be a Phil Collins side project (due t ...

. He then experienced early mainstream success with his band,

Balance Balance may refer to: Common meanings * Balance (ability) in biomechanics * Balance (accounting) * Balance or weighing scale * Balance, as in equality (mathematics) or equilibrium Arts and entertainment Film * Balance (1983 film), ''Balance'' ( ...

in the early 1980s. This group also featured Peppy Castro,

Bob Kulick Robert Joel Kulick (January 16, 1950 – May 28, 2020) was an American guitarist and record producer, who worked with numerous acts such as Kiss (band), Kiss, W.A.S.P. (band), W.A.S.P., Alice Cooper, Lou Reed, Meat Loaf, and Michael Bolton. He w ...

, Dennis Feldman and noted arranger and keyboardist Doug Katsaros. The group scored a top-25 hit on the U.S. singles chart with "Breaking Away" in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

. Although the song was recorded before Burgi joined the group, he had joined in time to record Balance's follow-up album, ''In for the Count.'' In addition to Brand X, Burgi has played and toured with

Al Di Meola Albert Laurence Di Meola (born July 22, 1954) is an American guitarist. Known for his work in jazz fusion and world music, his breakthrough came after joining Chick Corea's Return to Forever group in 1974. He launched, from 1976 afterwards, a s ...

Hall & Oates Daryl Hall & John Oates, commonly known as Hall & Oates, were an American Rock music, rock duo formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1970. Daryl Hall was generally the lead vocalist, while John Oates primarily supplied electric guitar and ba ...

Joe Lynn Turner Joe Lynn Turner (born Joseph Arthur Mark Linquito, August 2, 1951) is an American singer best known for his work with Rainbow (rock band), Rainbow, Deep Purple, and Yngwie Malmsteen. Turner joined Rainbow (rock band), Rainbow in the early 1980 ...

Rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

Blue Öyster Cult Blue Öyster Cult ( ; sometimes abbreviated BÖC or BOC) is an American rock band formed on Long Island, New York, in the hamlet of Stony Brook, in 1967. They have sold 25 million records worldwide, including 7 million in the United States. ...

Meat Loaf Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally by his stage name Meat Loaf, was an American singer and actor. He was known for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. ...

Fandango Fandango is a lively partner dance originating in Portugal and Spain, usually in triple metre, triple meter, traditionally accompanied by guitars, castanets, tambourine or hand-clapping. Fandango can both be sung and danced. Sung fandango is u ...

and

Enrique Iglesias Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (; born 8 May 1975) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He started his recording career in the mid-1990s on the Mexican label Fonovisa where he released three Spanish albums ''Enrique Iglesias (album), Enrique ...

and has recorded with numerous other artists, including

Michael Bolton Michael Bolotin (born February 26, 1953), known professionally as Michael Bolton, is an American singer and songwriter. Bolton performed in the hard rock and heavy metal music genres from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, both on his early solo a ...

Glen Burtnik Glen Burtnik (born Glenn Burtnick; April 8, 1955) is an American singer, songwriter, entertainer and multi-instrumentalist, best known as a member of Styx from 1990-1991 and again from 1999-2003. Burtnik is originally from North Brunswick, New ...

Bon Jovi Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Sayreville, New Jersey in 1983. The band consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarists John Shanks and Phil X, percussionist Everett Bradley ...

and

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Known as the "Queen of Motown Records", she was the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown#Major divisions, Motown's most suc ...

. Burgi was a member of the on-stage band in the Twyla Tharp - Billy Joel hit musical '' Movin' Out'' during the entire 3½ year run on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

. Recent recordings include

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Piano Man" after his Signature song, signature 1973 song Piano Man (song), of the same name, Joel has ha ...

's live CD ''

12 Gardens Live ''12 Gardens Live'' is the fourth live album by American singer/songwriter Billy Joel, recorded during a former record run of 12 sold-out concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York City in early 2006. It was released on June 13, 2006. Althou ...

'' and the 2007 Joel-penned single, " Christmas in Fallujah", exclusive to iTunes. Since November 2005, Chuck has been Joel's drummer, touring extensively, including 12 record breaking shows at New York's

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

in 2006, 2008's double night '' The Last Play at Shea'' and the October 2008 New York Springsteen/Joel benefit for

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

at the

Hammerstein Ballroom The Hammerstein Ballroom is a ballroom located within the Manhattan Center at 311 West 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The capacity of the ballroom is dependent on the configuration of the room; it seats 2,000 people for theat ...

. He also appears, with former

bandmate and bassist, Greg Smith,

Danger Danger Danger Danger is an American hard rock band formed in Queens, New York, in 1986. History Danger Danger was formed in 1986 by former Hotshot members lead vocalist Mike Pont (joined in 1987), bassist Bruno Ravel, and drummer Steve West (joine ...

vocalist Ted Poley, and Trixter guitarist Steve Brown, on the self-titled melodic hard rock-styled "Tokyo Motor Fist" album, released February 24, 2017. He is the brother of actor

Richard Burgi Richard William Burgi (, born July 30, 1958) is an American film and television actor best known for the roles of Det. Jim Ellison on '' The Sentinel'' and as Karl Mayer on ''Desperate Housewives''. He also portrayed Paul Hornsby in the ABC da ...

and briefly lived in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

while playing with Brand X.YouTube
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Discography

References

External links

* * 1952 births Living people Montclair High School (New Jersey) alumni Musicians from Montclair, New Jersey People from West Milford, New Jersey Rainbow (rock band) members American rock drummers Neverland Express members American session musicians American jazz drummers American heavy metal drummers American expatriates in England 20th-century American drummers American male drummers American male jazz musicians Brand X members Billy Joel Band members Drummers from New Jersey {{US-rock-drummer-stub