Musician. Drummer best known for his playing with Quiet Riot and W.A.S.P. Born Francesco Felice Banali to Jack and Martha Banali in Queens, New York. He left New York City in 1975 and moved to Los Angeles, where he spent four years playing drums with various bands, including Steppenwolf. He was a very creative session player and played on many hits for other artists. He also played drums on the acclaimed "Hughes/Thrall" album with Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple/Trapeze) and Pat Thrall (Pat Travers Band). In 1979, along with bassist Dana Strum, he was in secret rehearsals with then Quiet Riot guitarist Randy Rhoads and Ozzy Osbourne as the latter was looking for a guitar player to launch a new band. In 1980, he joined forces with Kevin DuBrow and formed DuBrow with a revolving door of musicians, before settling with former Snow guitarist Carlos Cavazo and bassist Chuck Wright. After Rudy Sarzo replaced Wright, DuBrow changed the name of the group to Quiet Riot. They signed with Pasha Records in September 1982 and they found success with "Metal Health," which was released six months later in 1983. "Metal Health" reached the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 charts, making it the first heavy metal album to go #1 on the charts. It eventually sold over 10 million copies worldwide and helped usher in the decade of heavy metal hair rock. Tensions were breaking up the band by the time "Condition Critical" was released in July 1984, but Banali held on, through lineup changes but by 1989, Quiet Riot disbanded after touring in support of their self-titled album, which was released in October 1988. Around the time of recording their self-titled album, he also played drums for W.A.S.P.'s "The Headless Children" album. After Quiet Riot disbanded, he rejoined W.A.S.P. to tour in support of the album. In 1990, he played for Faster Pussycat during their tour in support of their 1989 album "Wake Me When It's Over." After his mother's death in November 1990, Banali regrouped and formed a band called Heavy Bones that only released one album in 1992 before disbanding. In 1993, he rejoined Quiet Riot and in 1994, he also took over as the band's manager, overseeing the band's business decisions. After three albums and more lineup changes (including the reunion of the classic Metal Health lineup from 1997 onwards), Quiet Riot disbanded in 2003. He and DuBrow reformed Quiet Riot in October 2004 with bassist Chuck Wright and new guitarist Alex Grossi. They released one album with the lineup, "Rehab" in 2006, before the untimely death of DuBrow in November 2007. Banali announced the dissolving of Quiet Riot on January 14, 2008. With the blessing of the DuBrow family, he reformed Quiet Riot in September 2010 and finally, in June 2014, they released "10," their first album in eight years. A documentary about Quiet Riot titled "Quiet Riot – Well Now You're Here There's No Way Back" premiered at the Newport Beach Film Festival on April 29, 2014. On January 18, 2017, he was inducted into the Hall of Heavy Metal History for his contribution to Heavy Metal drumming. He was diagnosed with stage-IV pancreatic cancer in April 2019 and died August 20, 2020.