Carmine Appice was born December 15, 1946. He is an American drummer and percussionist most commonly associated with the rock genre. He has received classical music training, and was influenced early-on by the work of jazz drummers Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa. He is best known for his associations with Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, the power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice, Rod Stewart, King Kobra and Blue Murder, which also featured John Sykes of Whitesnake and Thin Lizzy fame, and Tony Franklin of The Firm. He was inducted into the Classic Drummer Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2014.
Appice is credited with influencing later rock drummers including Iron Maiden's Nicko McBrain, Aerosmith's Joey Kramer, Roger Taylor of Queen, Phil Collins of Genesis, Rush's Neil Peart, Mötley Crüe's Tommy Lee, Slayer's Dave Lombardo, Richard Christy, Chris Grainger, David Kinkade, Ray Mehlbaum, Led Zeppelin's John Bonham, Ian Paice of Deep Purple, Anvil's Robb Reiner and Eric Singer of Kiss.
His best-selling drum instruction book The Realistic Rock Drum Method was first published in 1972 and has since been revised and republished as The Ultimate Realistic Rock Drum Method. It covers the basic subjects of rock rhythms and polyrhythms, linear rudiments and groupings, shuffle rhythms, hi-hat and double bass drum exercises.
Of Italian descent, Appice is the elder brother of drummer Vinny Appice by 11 years.