One of France's greatest drummers, André Ceccarelli was born in Nice. His father, himself a drummer, taught him how to keep a solid beat and encouraged him to pursue this creative path. In 1962, Ceccarelli joined French rock band Les Chats Sauvages with Dick Rivers, until 1964. He then moved on to work with various jazz outfits and quickly became a sought after session drummer. The versatile and affectionately nicknamed Dédé has since released critically acclaimed solo albums and worked with some of pop and jazz's greatest artists, including Chick Corea, Sting, Christian Escoudé, Dee Dee Bridgewater and many more. He was awarded a lifetime achievement award by SACEM in 1998 and is now the leader of his own trio, with his friends Biréli Lagrène and Joey DeFrancesco.