Biography
Fitz is a native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada where he attended and graduated from John Taylor Collegiate in 1988. After leaving Winnipeg in the 90's he lived for some time in Los Angeles, California and currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Fitz started piano lessons at the age of five and drums at the age of ten, playing heavily in his middle school and high school music programs. Fitz received piano and theory training through The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Ontario.
Fitz got his professional start at age 15, playing in various Winnipeg clubs and outlying areas in a cover band named New Alliance. He later moved on to join the heavier Winnipeg based touring club act Seventh Heaven which evolved into Shake Naked. Schedules with Seventh Heaven and Shake Naked were much more extensive and involved touring most of Canada. Connections to the city of Los Angeles within the band Seventh Heaven allowed Fitz to have the opportunity to seek work in that market as a performer and session player.
Working with previous Shake Naked vocalist Lenita Erickson later proved fruitful as Erickson's friend Bruce Kulick of Kiss fame invited Fitz to join him in a recording effort after hearing him play. That band would become known as Union and would also include John Corabi on vocals (formerly of The Scream and Mötley Crüe), James Hunting of David Lee Roth on bass, with Kulick on guitar.
Fitz briefly recorded and toured with the Bulletboys in 2000, as well as with Gilby Clarke of Guns N' Roses fame.
In early 2001, Fitz would receive an invitation to tour with Vince Neil's solo act as drummer (and keyboardist). Performing on several international tours, and recorded the album "Live At The Whisky" in 2002. Fitz appeared on VH1's TV show "Remaking: Vince Neil" in 2004 as well as an episode of "Queer Eye For The Straight Guy".
Fitz left Vince Neil in 2005 to join Theory of a Deadman as the band embarked on tour to support the album "Gasoline". Fitz appeared in four music videos with the band, and made several TV appearances including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Fitz played piano and sang with the band for several acoustic performances as well.
In 2006, while still touring with Theory of a Deadman, Fitz temporarily left the band to tour with Alice Cooper, filling in on drums for Eric Singer while Singer was touring with Kiss. That same year, Fitz also toured the US with Indigenous.
In 2007, Fitz recorded with the Canadian rock act Econoline Crush on the album "Ignite", and subsequently became a permanent member of the band while still remaining as regular back-up drummer with Alice Cooper. Fitz appeared in the video for the Econoline Crush hit song "Dirty".
In 2009, Fitz joined the Las Vegas based production of "Monster Circus" as keyboardist/vocalist. Monster Circus performed at The Hilton Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The band featured Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, bassist Rudy Sarzo, guitarist Tony Montana of Great White, guitarist Dave Kushner from Velvet Revolver, and John Corabi and Bruce Kulick (from Fitz's former band Union).
In June 2009, Fitz appeared on the television show Gene Simmons Family Jewels (season 4, episode 2: Memphis Blues); he and Bruce Kulick helped with some recording studio work Gene Simmons arranged for his son Nick's musical aspirations. Fitz also recorded drums for most of the tracks on Kulick's 2010 album release BK3, including tracks featuring guest artists Gene Simmons, Nick Simmons, John Corabi, and Doug Fieger. Fitz appeared on a second episode in June 2010, this time performing live with Bruce Kulick and Nick Simmons at The Cat Club in Hollywood, California.
As of March 2010, Fitz became drummer for former Guns N' Roses/Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash. With Slash, Fitz has performed on several US talk shows in 2010 including: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmell, Ellen, Lopez Tonight (twice) and The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn. Fitz has also appeared in several music videos with Slash including "By The Sword", "Back From Cali", "Beautiful Dangerous" featuring Fergie, "You're A Lie", and "Bad Rain".
Read more about this topic: Brent Fitz
Famous quotes containing the word biography:
“A great biography should, like the close of a great drama, leave behind it a feeling of serenity. We collect into a small bunch the flowers, the few flowers, which brought sweetness into a life, and present it as an offering to an accomplished destiny. It is the dying refrain of a completed song, the final verse of a finished poem.”
—André Maurois (1885–1967)
“In how few words, for instance, the Greeks would have told the story of Abelard and Heloise, making but a sentence of our classical dictionary.... We moderns, on the other hand, collect only the raw materials of biography and history, “memoirs to serve for a history,” which is but materials to serve for a mythology.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Had Dr. Johnson written his own life, in conformity with the opinion which he has given, that every man’s life may be best written by himself; had he employed in the preservation of his own history, that clearness of narration and elegance of language in which he has embalmed so many eminent persons, the world would probably have had the most perfect example of biography that was ever exhibited.”
—James Boswell (1740–95)