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Liberty DeVitto
Born	August 8, 1950 (age 59)
Origin	Brooklyn, New York City, New York; U.S.A.
Genres	Pop, pop rock, rock
Occupations	musician
Instruments	drums
Years active	1968–present
Associated acts	Billy Joel; Meat Loaf; Rick Wakeman; Carly Simon; Mick Jones; John Babcock; Sean J. Kennedy; NYC Hit Squad; Flynsolo; Doug Scofield; Mitch Ryder; Richie Supa; Topper; The Funk Club
Notable instruments
	acoustic guitar

Liberty DeVitto (born August 8, 1950) is an American rock drummer. He is best known as the drummer for Billy Joel, but has also played with the NYC Hit Squad and has been a session drummer on recordings of other artists.

[edit] Career

DeVitto was born in New York City of Italian ancestry where his father was a police officer at the New York Police Department. He taught himself to play the drums after seeing The Beatles on their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964.

After working with Billy Joel for 30 years, Devitto was discharged from drumming duties for the 2006 Billy Joel tour. Up to that point, he had the longest running tenure in Joel's band, starting with the recording of 1976's Turnstiles.

On May 19, 2009, DeVitto filed a lawsuit in Manhattan's state Supreme Court claiming Joel and Sony Music owed DeVitto over 10 years worth of royalty payments. DeVitto has never been given songwriting credit on any of Joel's songs, but he claims that he helped write some of them. DeVitto's lawyer added that he does not know exactly how DeVitto is owed, and that Joel's record sales are subject to an audit.^[1]

[edit] Philanthropy

In 2003, Liberty DeVitto signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and instruction to children in underserved public schools throughout the U.S.A. Liberty has personally delivered instruments to children in the program, performed at benefit events for the cause, and sits on the organization's Honorary Board of Directors.

[edit] Personal

DeVitto is the father of actress Torrey DeVitto. He currently endorses Mapex drums, Sabian cymbals and Pro-Mark drumsticks. He has endorsed Tama drums and Zildjian cymbals in the past.