Domingo Steven "Sunny" Ortiz (born July 4, 1952) is an American musician best known as the longtime percussionist for

Widespread Panic Widespread Panic is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. The current lineup includes guitarist/singer John Bell (musician), John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Duane Trucks, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, keyboardist John "JoJ ...

Life and career

Domingo Ortiz was born in 1952 to Victor and Faye Ortiz. He is of

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

heritage and grew up in

Waco, Texas Waco ( ) is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and Interstate 35, I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin, Texas, Austin. The city had a U.S. census estimated 2024 popul ...

. With his parents' help, he bought his first

drum kit A drum kit or drum set (also known as a trap set, or simply drums in popular music and jazz contexts) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and sometimes other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one p ...

as a teenager. He played his first professional gig at the age of 15 in the 1960s at a bar with his Uncle Cruz's band. His parents were initially against the idea of him performing with a rock band but came around to the idea when they learned he would be paid $35 for the performance. Ortiz began his career on a standard drum set, but shifted to bongos,

congas The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are stave (wood), staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (drum), quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), an ...

timbales Timbales () or pailas are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing. They are shallower than single-headed tom-toms and usually tuned much higher, especially for their size.Orovio, Helio 1981. ''Diccionario de la música cubana: biográfic ...

and other percussion instruments as a way to distinguish himself from other drummers in Texas. In 1986 he moved to

Athens, Georgia Athens is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Downtown Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta. The University of Georgia, the state's flagship public university and an Research I university, ...

where he met up with the members of the newly formed Widespread Panic. Playing percussion, he performed with them for the first time on October 6, 1986. He continued to sit in with them regularly when they played in Georgia for the next couple of years before accepting their formal offer to join the band in late 1988 or early 1989. He has performed with them at every concert they have played since then. He has also appeared on every album they have recorded including their debut, '' Space Wrangler'', which was recorded shortly before he officially joined the band. Unlike most of his band mates, Ortiz has not performed with many other groups professionally since joining the band. He did, however, perform on the late Widespread Panic guitarist

Michael Houser Michael Houser (January 6, 1962 – August 10, 2002) was a founding member and lead guitarist of the band Widespread Panic. He appeared on seven studio albums during his 16-year tenure with the band from 1986 till 2002. He is also feature ...

's debut solo album ''

Door Harp ''Door Harp'' is the first solo studio album by Michael Houser, former lead guitarist of Widespread Panic; the album was released posthumously on September 24, 2002, on Sanctuary Records. Recorded in John Keane's studio in Athens, GA in March 2 ...

'' and current Widespread Panic keyboardist

John Hermann John "JoJo" Hermann (born July 18, 1962) is an American singer, musician and songwriter, best known for his involvement in the band Widespread Panic. Early life He was born in New York City and attended Collegiate School, where he was a class ...

's debut solo album ''

Smiling Assassin ''Smiling Assassin'' is the debut solo album by Widespread Panic keyboardist John Hermann, released in 2001. Other members of Widespread Panic as well as members of the North Mississippi All Stars and Blue Mountain also perform on the album. T ...

''. He was not a member of

brute. Brute (stylized brute.) was a side project band by guitarist Vic Chesnutt and members of Widespread Panic. History The first known grouping of Chesnutt with the members of the band was at John Keane's studio in Athens, Georgia. There, the colla ...

, a band active from 1995 to 2002 that included all of the other members of Widespread Panic and

Vic Chesnutt James Victor Chesnutt (November 12, 1964 – December 25, 2009) was an American singer-songwriter from Athens, Georgia. His first album, Little (album), ''Little'', was released in 1990. His commercial breakthrough came in 1996 with the rele ...

, but he did perform on their second album ''

Co-Balt ''Co-Balt'' is the second and final studio album by the Athens, Georgia-based band brute., a collaboration between guitarist Vic Chesnutt and the members of Widespread Panic. It was released seven years after the band's debut release, ''Nine Hig ...

''.

References

External links

Widespread Panic official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ortiz, Domingo 1952 births Living people Widespread Panic members American percussionists 20th-century American drummers American male drummers 20th-century American male musicians Drummers from Texas