"Many years ago, there was a strong blizzard in New York that brought a huge amount of snow and a baby boy named Rick Marotta. Things went along quite normally for the first 18 years of his life; but when he turned 19, a friend went into the army and left Rick his set of drums. That was the beginning of the end." (Had enough? Sorry, but there's more.)

Rick started in playing with R&B bands in the New York area, recording with David Spinozza and the group Giant and another called The Riverboat Soul Band. A super-group called The Vagrants asked him to join their new band Brethren, and Rick went with them to Los Angeles where they recorded the first of their two albums.

His career started to get on track after returning to New York and began doing studio work with John Tropea, Deodoto, The Brecker Brothers, and David Sanborn. Additional recordings and tours followed with such luminaries as James Taylor, Jackson Brown, Steely Dan, Carly Simon, Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Aretha Franklin, and Larry Carlton. Rick's bio puts another spin on his fame by saying, "A lot of attention was paid to him not only because of his playing, but also because of his intense good looks." (Yeah, right!)

Rick's current activities include writing music for movies and television, recording jingles, producing records, as well as being the Musical Director for The Tracy Ullman Show. Some of his movie credits include Just the Ticket, Painted Hero, HEAT, Up in Smoke, Alive, and A Stranger Among Us. His most recent scoring for TV can be heard on Everybody Loves Raymond, Yes, Dear, and the upcoming Hank Azaria Show. On top of all that, he has somehow managed to be the drummer on a few live appearances with Carly Simon and Bette Midler.

In addition to having his signature Yamaha Hipgig, Rick says, "I have always strived to achieve the perfect sound and feel in my performances. Yamaha Drums and hardware have always been the best tools to achieve that." About this, he isn't kidding.