John Ferraro has been playing drums since he was five years old. Born in Waterbury, Connecticut, to a trumpet playing father and a piano playing mother, music is in his genes as well as his soul. As a small child he was introduced to a variety of musical styles. His early idols and influences include: Ginger Baker, John Bonham, Joe Morello, Buddy Rich, Ringo Starr, Charlie Watts and Tony Williams.
John attended Orange Coast College and Cal State Long Beach where he majored in Business Administration and took performance classes. John was a member of the Jazz Ensemble and earned top honors as an instrumentalist. He landed his first professional gig at Disneyland for the newly opened Space Mountain attraction where he worked for four years.
John toured domestically and internationally with Larry Carlton on and off for 18 years. He also circled the globe with Barry Manilow’s world tour, and enjoyed playing for Biff Baby’s All-Stars, a loose aggregate of top flight jamming buddies formed by Sterling “Biff” Ball, President of the Ernie Ball Company. Over the course of the last 30 years, John has also had the pleasure of working with such notable artists as Carl Anderson, David Benoit, George Benson, Debbie Boone, Vikki Carr, Randi Crawford, Robben Ford, Jay Graydon, Abraham Laboriel, Albert Lee, Steve Lukather, Keiko & Kazu Matsui, Steve Morse, Aaron Neville, Carlos Rios, Linda Ronstadt, Michael Sembello, Umberto Tozzi, Leslie Ugum, Eddie Van Halen, Carl Verheyen, Kirk Whalum, and Tim Weisberg.
Ferraro preformed for the 2001–2002 critically acclaimed LION KING at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, and has been keeping the beat for NBC’s FRAISER show for almost ten years. As a player for Promise Keeper’s Men’s Christian Ministry at live stadium worship concerts, John can be heard on their albums for the past eight years. He was also recently featured on all 5 of Rod Stewart’s Standards album.
Most recent recordings include Tak Matsumoto’s Blue Horizon release and Takuro’s album. He is also producing and playing on a new album with long time friends Sterling Ball, Albert Lee, Steve Morse, Jay Graydon, Steve Vai, Jim Cox. John is a featured artist on the ILIO SPECTRASONICS loop sample library. Most recent tours have been with Burt Bacharach the last 4 years.
Other recent projects include soundtrack for ANCHORMAN 2, MIKE LOVE from the Beach Boys, Polish singer SEWERYN KRAJEWSKI from the group RED GUITAR. KENNY FINE solo Album, DEMISHARPS Christmas album 2016 were John helped played on all the tracks and helped produce.
John’s resume also sports a wide range of studio work. He performs as a session musician for film, television shows, and commercials. His music library credits include tracks for Bronx Zoo, ESPN, The Gambler, Star Search, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Rolling Vengeance, The Young & The Restless, The Warriors, Acura, Budweiser, Honda, McDonalds, Miller Beer, Nissan, Verizon, Chevrolet, Nationwide Insurance, Carls Jr., Dish network, Tresiba, Dove Chocolate and many more.