Lynyrd Skynyrd Drummer And Artist Michael Cartellone Talks With Rockbandreviews.com About his Love For Art, Drumming In The Greatest Southern Rock Band, And Which Of The Two Came First.
Drummer and artist Michael Cartellone is one talented individual. You might know him as the powerhouse drummer in a little Southern rock band by the name of Lynyrd Skynyrd, but Cartellone is also a very successful Visual Artist. Cartellone will be showing his latest works at the Wentworth Gallery inside the Guitar Hotel at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino on July 20th. You will be able to preview and purchase the art on display and see new and inspired works featuring the Beatles and a special 50th Anniversary piece featuring a tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd.
You can also catch Cartellone and his band mates at the iThink Amphitheater in West Palm Beach the following day for the start of Lynyrd Skynyrd's 50th Anniversary Tour.
Cartellone took time out of his busy rehearsal schedule to talk with us about his love for art, drumming, and his fondest memory of Gary Rossington. Click the video box below to hear the entire interview.
Michael Cartellone was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1962. He attended the Cleveland Institute of Art at the age of four, with his focus set on the Visual Arts. Indeed, Michael intended a career in Visual Arts for the next five years, until that is he began drumming at the age of nine. He completely threw himself into drumming, playing his first professional gig at a bar at the age of eleven, although he never stopped painting. Cartellone continued studying both drumming and painting simultaneously, throughout his grade school and high school years. By the time he graduated high school, Cartellone was performing four nights a week, earning his living as a musician; yet at the same time, he had begun selling his paintings. As Cartellone explains it, "music and art have always been two halves of a whole."
At the age of twenty-two, Cartellone moved to New York City to further his career. He worked in the art department in the garment industry by day, and played the drums by night. It was during this time that he had his first gallery show, at King Street Gallery in the Washington D.C. area. His move to New York City was a true springboard for Cartellone's music career. Before long, he found himself in a new band called "Damn Yankees", which went on to multi-platinum status. Other recording and /or touring credits include: John Fogarty, Cher, Peter Frampton and Freddie Mercury. In 1998, Cartellone joined the legendary Southern Rock Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, where he currently can be seen on tour throughout the world.
Cartellone has received strong media attention for his work in the Visual Arts including ARTnews Magazine, January 2006, and more recently in an interview on CNN in March 2009. He has had Gallery Exhibitions in New York City (Soho), Los Angeles, CA, Phoenix, AZ, Long Island, NY, Ft. Collins, CO and Las Vegas, NV.
Cartellone is happily married to his actress/singer wife, Nancy Meyer, and resides in New York.
ROCKBANDREVIEWS.COM / 2023