David Uosikkinen (born February 11, 1956) is an American

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

and

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

content manager, best known for being a member of rock band

The Hooters The Hooters is an American rock music, rock band, which was founded in Philadelphia in 1980. They combine elements of rock, reggae, ska, and folk music. The Hooters first gained major commercial success in the United States in the mid-1980s du ...

Early life

Born in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, U.S., Uosikkinen grew up in

Levittown, Pennsylvania Levittown is a census-designated place (CDP) and planned community in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Delaware Valley, Philadelphia metropolitan area. The population was 52,699 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

and at eight years old, took up the

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

. His father regularly took him to see jazz bands at the Lambertville Music Circus and after he saw

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

perform on

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the ''CB ...

on February 9, 1964, Uosikkinen realized that music and being in a band was what he wanted to pursue with his life. He eventually turned to the drums when a neighbor let him play on his new set. He graduated from Woodrow Wilson (now Harry S. Truman) High School in 1974, where he participated in gymnastics. After high school, Uosikkinen played in a number of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

area bands, including The Kooks, The Torpedoes, Hot Property and Youth Camp. Uosikkinen's parents are both immigrants from

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

Tenure with The Hooters

In 1980, Uosikkinen joined Philadelphia musicians

Rob Hyman Robert Andrew Hyman (born April 24, 1950) is an American singer, songwriter, keyboard and accordion player, producer, and arranger, best known for being a founding member of the rock band the Hooters. Early life Hyman started taking piano lesso ...

and Eric Bazilian when they decided to try something new by combining

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

ska Ska (; , ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a w ...

, and

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

to create

. '' Nervous Night'', The Hooters' 1985 debut on

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

, sold in excess of 2 million copies and included ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Top 40 hits "Day By Day" (#18), "And We Danced" (#21) and "Where Do The Children Go" (#38). After releasing six albums, The Hooters obtained a large global following throughout the 1980s and 1990s. As a result, they were asked to open three major musical events of the late 20th century:

Live Aid Live Aid was a two-venue benefit concert and music-based fundraising initiative held on Saturday, 13 July 1985. The event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia, a m ...

in 1985,

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

Concert at

Giants Stadium Giants Stadium (sometimes referred to as Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands) was a stadium located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The venue was open from 1976 to 2010, and primarily hosted sporting events and ...

in 1986, and

Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. In 1965, he co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd as the bassist. Following the departure of the group's main songwriter Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became ...

The Wall Concert in Berlin ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

in 1990. In 1995, The Hooters went on hiatus. Uosikkinen reunited with The Hooters on successful headlining European summer tours in 2003 to 2005. 2007 saw the release of '' Time Stand Still'', their first album of new material since 1993.

Other musical projects

In 1994, Uosikkinen and entrepreneur, Dave Macrae, launched an independent record label, Moskeeto Records. In 2010, Uosikkinen began his project, In The Pocket: Essential Songs of Philadelphia creating a fund raising campaign for the

Settlement Music School Settlement Music School is a community music school with branches in and around Philadelphia. Founded in 1908 by two young women, Jeannette Selig Frank and Blanche Wolf Kohn, it is the largest community school of the arts in the United States. I ...

. In The Pocket is recording the "essential songs" Of Philadelphia. Documentary music videos are being recorded and songs can be downloaded at the project's website and on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

. Others working on the project include Eric Bazilian and

Jeffrey Gaines Jeffrey Gaines is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, he was signed to the Chrysalis Records label in 1990 and released his debut album, ''Jeffrey Gaines'', in 1992. Life and career The first single ...

, Richard Bush and Rick DiFonzo of The A's, Greg Davis of Beru Revue, and William Wittman of Too Much Joy.

Career in technology

In 1999, Uosikkinen was asked to join a group of technology experts and music aficionados who created an online music portal, MP3.com, which subsequently changed the music industry's distribution and consumer listening habits. In 2005, Uosikkinen took a position at another technology company, MP3tunes, a Music Service Provider (MSP) and originator of Oboe, a system that allowed unlimited online storage for users. In 2006, he went on to manage content for VMix, a site that featured

music videos A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

and other compositions by film makers in various genres. Currently, when not touring or recording with The Hooters, Uosikkinen works at 6StringMedia, a web development and marketing company. In January 2009, Uosikkinen launched Dave U Drums, an internet service where musicians send him an outline of a song, pay a recording fee, and Uosikkinen will deliver a finished drum track within 72 hours.

Personal life

Uosikkinen moved to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

in 1991, initially to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

before moving to

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

. He moved back to Philadelphia in 2009 where he resides with his wife, Dallyn Pavey. He has one son, Sam, who was born in 1990.

References

External links

David Uosikkinen
official website
Dave U Drums

Songs In The Pocket
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uosikkinen, David Living people 1956 births American male drummers American rock drummers The Hooters members American people of Finnish descent Drummers from Philadelphia People from Levittown, Pennsylvania People from Cheltenham, Pennsylvania 20th-century American drummers 20th-century American male musicians