Drummer Dino Danelli of the Rascals dies at 78

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DINO DANELLI, THE founding drummer for New Jersey rock and rollers the Rascals, as well as a member of Steven Van Zandt’s backing band the Disciples of Soul, has died at the age of 78.

Danelli’s death was confirmed on his Facebook page in a post from friend and Rascals archivist, Joe Russo. An exact cause of death wasn’t given, though Russo said Danelli’s “primary challenges” were coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure. Russo said the drummer’s health began to falter around 2018, and earlier this year he entered a rehab facility where he remained until his death.

Danelli was born and raised in Jersey City, New Jersey. He began his career as a jazz and R&B drummer, but started getting into rock and roll after linking up with a group called Ronnie Speeks and the Elrods. He gigged around New York City, Las Vegas, and New Orleans, eventually teaming with Cornish, singer/keyboardist Felix Cavaliere, and vocalist Eddie Brigati to form the Young Rascals in 1965.

Danelli was born and raised in Jersey City, New Jersey. He began his career as a jazz and R&B drummer, but started getting into rock and roll after linking up with a group called Ronnie Speeks and the Elrods. He gigged around New York City, Las Vegas, and New Orleans, eventually teaming with Cornish, singer/keyboardist Felix Cavaliere, and vocalist Eddie Brigati to form the Young Rascals in 1965.

In 1971, the Rascals split.

After that, Danelli essentially went back to gigging around. He and Cornish formed the band Bulldog, which released two albums before splitting in 1975; he also played in the group Fotomaker, alongside former Raspberries lead guitarist Wally Bryson. In 1982,Van Zandt tapped him to join the Disciples of Soul, and he played on the group’s first two albums, 1982’s Men Without Women and 1984’s Voice of America. While he was no longer the Disciples of Soul’s drummer for 1987’s Freedom — No Compromise, Danelli — who’d always had a penchant for graphic design — did help with that record’s cover design and art direction.

The Rascals reunited for a brief tour in 1988 with all of the original lineup, except Brigati. The core four, however, were all on-hand when the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. In 2012, largely thanks to Van Zandt’s insistence, the Rascals launched a full-fledged reunion with The Rascals: Once Upon a Dream, a concert/Broadway-style production that found the group recounting and recreating their story.

After a couple years performing and touring Once Upon a Dream, however, the Rascals split again. According to Russo — Danelli’s friend and Rascals archivist — the drummer was “acutely disappointed about the abrupt conclusion” of the reunion. “He didn’t want it to end and he was almost obsessed with conjuring ideas to keep the ball rolling,” Russo added.

Still, according to Russo, Danelli stayed busy creatively in his final years with the two of them working on various video, art, photography, and writing projects. Danelli also continued to make music, with Russo saying the two of them “wrote, recorded and produced entire albums worth of songs together.”