André Ceccarelli

André "Dédé" Ceccarelli (born 5 January 1946) is a French jazz drummer. After learning to play the drums from his father, Ceccarelli started out playing in the salons of the Hotel Royal Nice Promenade des Anglais at the age of fifteen, where he played with some musicians at tea dances on weekends. He was spotted by a lady who was the wife of John Tosan, and was presented to the brothers John Rob alias Jean-Claude and James Fawler alias Gerard Roboly, and on their request participated on rehearsals with the French band rock Les Chats Sauvages, who was looking for a new drummer, and was hired at age 16 in May 1962, which corresponds to the beginning of his long career. After almost two years, several tours and many recordings with this band, he left in January 1964 to resume the position of drummer in the band the Casino Sporting Club Monaco, and playing with many entertainers in studio and on tour, including Claude François, he turned to jazz. He had always wanted to be able to play w...