Anton Fig

Anton Fig (born 8 August 1952 in Cape Town, South Africa), known as "The Thunder from Down Under", is a South African/American session drummer, noted for his work in David Letterman's house band, the CBS Orchestra. Letterman often refers to Fig as "Anton Zip" or "Buddy Rich Jr."

Early career

Fig began playing drums at age four. After performing in numerous successful local rock bands, he moved to Boston to further pursue his musical interests. His formal education included studies at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where he studied jazz and classical disciplines, and graduated with honors in 1975. In 1976, he moved to New York City, where he began to establish a career as a freelance musician.

Fig was a member of the band Spider and played on both their releases in 1980 and 1981, and also played with Shanghai on their 1982 release. Fig was a member of ex-Kiss lead guitarist Ace Frehley's solo project Frehley's Comet from 1984 to 1987, as well as the drummer on Frehley's 1978 solo album. Other artists with whom he has worked include Bob Dylan, Warren Zevon, B. B. King, Peter Frampton, Joan Armatrading, Cyndi Lauper, Link Wray, John Waite, Robert Gordon, Joe Bonamassa, Beth Hart and Kix. Fig also played drums on all but one song on Kiss's 1979 album Dynasty and every song on their 1980 album Unmasked.

Joe Bonamassa

Joe Bonamassa (born May 8, 1977) is an American blues rock musician, singer and songwriter.

Bonamassa opened for B.B. King when he was only 12 years old. In the last 13 years Bonamassa has put out 15 solo albums through his independent record label, J&R Adventures, of which eleven have reached #1 on the Billboard Blues charts.

He has played alongside such artists as Stephen Stills, Eric Clapton, Blondie Chaplin, Foreigner, Buddy Guy, Steve Winwood, Warren Haynes, and Derek Trucks among others. His career highlights include performances at the Royal Albert Hall and a Grammy Award nomination in 2013. In addition to his music career, Joe Bonamassa runs a nonprofit organization called the "Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation" whose mission it is to further music education by funding scholarships and providing music education resources to schools in need.

Life and career

Solo career

Joe Bonamassa was born in New Hartford, New York. He started playing guitar at age four. His father was an avid music fan and exposed Bonamassa to records by Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. Joe was very inspired by these British blues rock records. When he was 12 years old, he had his own band called Smokin' Joe Bonamassa. The band gigged around western New York and Pennsylvania, cities such as Scranton and Buffalo, on weekends since Joe had school on weekdays. Bonamassa played a crimson 1972 Fender Stratocaster he called "Rosie", which his father had bought in Utica, New York.

Anton

Anton may refer to:

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See also

David Letterman

David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American former television and radio host, comedian, writer, producer, and actor.

He hosted a late night television talk show for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982, debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC, and ending with the May 20, 2015, broadcast of the Late Show with David Letterman on CBS. In total, Letterman hosted 6,028 episodes of Late Night and Late Show, surpassing friend and mentor Johnny Carson as the longest-serving late night talk show host in American television history. In 1996, David Letterman was ranked No. 45 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.

Letterman is also a television and film producer. His company, Worldwide Pants, produced his show and formerly produced The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Worldwide Pants has also produced several prime-time comedies, the most successful of which was Everybody Loves Raymond, currently in syndication.

Late-night hosts Conan O'Brien (Letterman's successor on Late Night), and Jimmy Kimmel, cite Letterman's influence.

CBS Orchestra

The CBS Orchestra was the house band, led by Paul Shaffer, that played for David Letterman's CBS late-night talk show, Late Show with David Letterman. Minus its horn section and second guitarist, it was previously known as The World's Most Dangerous Band (WMDB) from 1982 to 1993, during the group's tenure as the house band for NBC's Late Night with David Letterman.

Members

Background

The original membership of "The World's Most Dangerous Band" was assembled in early 1982, and consisted of Paul Shaffer (keyboards); Will Lee (bass); Hiram Bullock (guitar) and Steve Jordan (drums). Lee, Bullock and Jordan were all previously members of The 24th Street Band, a jazz/rock fusion ensemble that released three albums in the late 1970s. (The fourth member of the 24th Street Band was keyboard player Clifford Carter.) Shaffer was a regular attendee at their shows, and had worked with Lee as a session musician. When it came time to create a band for Late Night, Shaffer simply recruited the three non-keyboard playing members of the 24th Street Band, in essence hiring a ready-made supporting band for himself.