Quiet Riot drummer Frankie Banali has died at the age of 68.
In April 2019, he was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer – information he would share publicly several months later. Banali’s treatments caused him to miss several shows, although he kept fans informed about his health on social media. When medical bills piled up, a GoFundMe page was created to help Banali with his battle, raising more than $ 47,000.
In announcing the drummer’s death, an official statement from his family noted that Banali “put an inspiring brave and courageous 16-month battle to the end and continued to play live for as long as he could. Standard chemotherapy stopped working “, and a series of strokes made it impossible to continue a clinical trial. He eventually lost the battle at 7:18 p.m. on August 20 in Los Angeles surrounded by his wife and daughter.”
Born in Queens, NY on November 14, 1951, Banali moved to LA in the mid 70’s and spent about a year in New Steppenwolf, an offshoot of the hard rock legends led by her former bassist. Nick St. Nick Nicholas. He left in 1979, and soon began working with singer Kevin DuBrow, whose band, Quiet Riot, disbanded shortly after guitarist Randy Rhoads and bassist Rudy Sarzo left to play with Ozzy Osbourne.
Originally she called herself DuBrow, and the band changed their name back to Quiet Riot after capturing bassist Chuck Wright and guitarist Carlos Cavazo in 1982. Sarzo returned after leaving Osbourne’s group after Rhoads’ death. The quartet has signed a deal with Pasha Records, an indie label distributed by Columbia, and released Metal Health beginning in 1983. With the help of her cover of Slade’s “Cum On Feel the Noize” and her own “Metal Health (Bang Your Head)”, the record became the first heavy metal album to reach the top Billboard albums chart and eventually sold over 6 million copies.
But success at the top was short-lived, and subsequent releases did not sell the same figures. DuBrow was fired in 1987, and Quiet Riot released another album with Paul Shortino on vocals before breaking up in 1989. Banali went on to WASP, drummed up The Headless Children; he also played with Faster Pussycat and guitarist Gary Hoey in Heavy Bones.
A few years later, DuBrow and Cavazo reunited Quiet Riot with Kenny Hillery on bass and drummer Pat Ashby, who was soon replaced by Bobby Rondinelli. But for sessions before 1993s Terrible were completed, Rondinelli ran to Black Sabbath; Banali returned and also took over the role of Quiet Riot manager. Sarzo also returned in 1997, reuniting the Metal Health-era lineup until 2003, when they broke up again.
Banali and DuBrow brought the band back in 2004, with guitarist Alex Grossi and the return of Wright marking the band’s third stint in the band. When DuBrow died in November 2007, Banali declared the end of Quiet Riot. But after talking to the late frontman’s family, Banali created a new Quiet Riot that included Grossi, Wright and singer Mark Huff. The group would go through several more singers, with James Durbin providing the lead on 2019s Hollywood Cowboys, Banali’s latest Quiet Riot album. Most recently, Jizzy Pearl took over vocal duties for his second stint in the band.
The group’s story was told in the 2015 documentary Silent riot: Well, now you’re here, there’s no way back. It was directed by Regina Russell, who married Banali later that year.
In addition to being a spokeswoman for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, Banali was a passionate advocate for animal rescue. Donations in his name are encouraged to Fixnation.org, Aspca.org, Pancan.org or Children.org.
.
