Dio Santos - DW Drums Endorsee

Dio Santos has been playing drums for 22 years and has performed & recorded with artists such as:
Greg Georgiades (The passengers), Chris Tokalon, Izio Gross (Airto Moreira), Zvi Belling, Howard Belling, Johnny Fourie, Sean Fourie, Graeme Sacks, Charlie Sayers, Valencia Ferlito, Gito Baloi (Tananas), Robin Walsh, Wessel van Rensburg, Marc Dube, Wendy Oldfield, P.J. Powers, Amor Vittone, Kai Horstemke, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Jarred Aston (Cinema), Liesl Graham, Kevin Davidson, John Davies, Absolute Zero, Jazzworks Fat Sound, Denzil Weale, Johan Laas, Harry Sideropolous, Tamara Dey, Brandon Auret, Emanuel Castis, Bruce Cassidy, RJ Benjamin and others.

Other Recordings include Radio & TV jingles, & backing tracks for various shows.

Theatre Productions include:
- Cliff Richard – The Musical (3 months)
- Tribute To Janis Joplin (3 months)
- California Dreaming (4 months)
- Feeling Groovy (7 months)
- Scribble (4 months)
- Decades (6 months)
- Sleeping Beauty (panto) (3 months)
- Tribute to Santana (current, on and off)
- Boogie Nights (4 months)
- La Vida (2 months)
- Jack and the Beanstalk (3 months)
- Beethoven Rocks Again (8 months)
- Boogie Wonderland (4 months)
- Harvest Moon ( 3 months)
- Rock Circus ( 2 months)
- Route 66 (2 months)
- He has also subbed for “Legends Alive”, “The Wizard of Oz” “Alladin a Lamp”, “Legends”, and “Glory Days”, “Hollywood Rocks”, “Viva Las Vegas”, “Rocking all over the World”.

Dio has completed a 6-month season aboard the cruise liner “MS Symphony”, where he worked with:
Lisa Melman, Danny Fisher, Natalie Lotkin, Terry Fortune, Shelly McLean, Roger Butler, Normando Rojas, and others.

Education:
Studied privately in South Africa with Ian Dixon and Neill Etteridge.
In 1993 he was accepted into the “Musicians Institute” in Los Angeles, where he studied with Joe Porcaro, Ralph Humphrey, Efrain Toro and other such great drummers and instructors. He graduated with honors from that institute in 1994.

Teaching Experience:
- “Academy of Future Stars” (1 year)
- “The Drum Studio.” (1 year)
- “Allenby/Damelin Campus” (10 years and current)
- “Sahetti” (5 years)
- “Beaulieu College” (3 years)
- “T.U.T” (6 years and current)
- “WITS University” (2 years)
- and privately (13 years and current)

Dio maintains a busy live performance schedule as a freelancer working with jazz, funk, latin, pop, rock & roll bands and theatre productions.
He has worked extensively in South Africa and countries outside S. Africa include: U.S.A, U.K, Germany, Portugal, Australia, Botswana and Namibia.
He has also performed at the prestigious “North Sea Jazz Festival” held in Cape Town with “Jazzworks” featuring McCoy Mrubata, Paul Hanmer and DJ Reddy D in 2002.