Dino Danelli Obituary, Funeral

Dino Danelli was an American drummer. Danelli, who was born into an Italian American family in Jersey City, New Jersey, was a jazz drummer by trade.

He’d worked with Lionel Hampton and was doing R&B in New Orleans by 1961. In 1962, he returned to New York with the band Ronnie Speeks & the Elrods. He also collaborated with legends such as Little Willie John on occasion.

Danelli was best known as the drummer and founding member of the rock band The Young Rascals.

He has been called “one of the great unappreciated rock drummers in history”. He and the (Young) Rascals were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.

Danelli produced a series of tracks for New York singer-songwriter Roxanne Fontana in 1999, which were released on Etoile Records as the album Love Is Blue.

He was also a visual artist, based at DinoDanelliArt.com, and designed album covers for The Rascals and Little Steven & the Disciples of Soul.

Dino Danelli died on Thursday, December 15, 2022, in New York City at the age of 78. Funeral arrangements for Dino Danelli have not been made public.