

Fergie Frederiksen was born Dennis Hardy Frederiksen
on May 15, 1951 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. His familiy emigrated
from Denmark to the states more than 100 years ago.
Even though Fergie is most known for being a former
vocalist in Toto, he has done a lot of other stuff too.
Trillion,
LeRoux, Frederiksen / Philips and David London, to name some of
his bands and projects. Fergie made his first-ever solo album (except
of David London), released in February 1999, called Equilibrium.
Fergie, with his high-pitched voice, made his debut
as a singer at an early age. He started his musical career at the
age of 13, and he played clubs and pubs at the age of 15 with musicians
three times his own age! Fergie remembers those days as a great
time in his life, and he tells us that he really learned a lot from
his older bandmates. Fergie realized by coincidence that he could
sing, and he therefore decided that he would try to make a living
out of it.
Frederiksen moved to Chicago in 1975 and replaced
Tommy Shaw in the band MS Funk. Tommy and Fergie had been friends,
and Shaw suggested Fergie as his replacement when he moved on to
join Styx. Shortly after, Fergie met Patrick Leonard and together
they formed Trillion, which was shortly picked up by Epic Records.
After one record, Fergie left the band and joined LeRoux, with which
he released an album in 1983 (So Fired Up). Fergie had decided
to move out to Los Angeles in 1980, and he started to get involved
in a lot of session work. Through this, he met bass player and producer
Ricky Phillips. They built up a close friendship and to this day
they are still the best of pals. When LeRoux disbanded, Fergie started
a band with Phillips, drummer Pat Torpey, guitarist Tim Pierce,
guitarist Scott Sheets, and keyboard player John Purdell. The band
was called Abandon Shame. That's when Ricky Phillips gave a video
to his friend Jeff Porcaro.
”And the next thing I know was that I was asked
to join Toto, who were looking for a new singer after the
[departure]
of Bobby Kimball,” says Fergie. He continues, ”Ricky and the other
guys in Abandon Shame were very understanding, as it was a huge
chance to join Toto.” Fergie recorded Isolation with Toto.
”It was an adventurous album,” Fergie recalls. ”It was a band who
took a chance of doing a album not in any way as commercial as their
previous album. It was an album heavier and more progressive. But
still to this day a great album.” Due to various reasons, Fergie
was to leave Toto only after one album. Today Fergie feels nothing
bad about his former bandmates in Toto - life is good for him anyway,
so why should he? He’s building up his ”new life” in music business,
and once again the future looks bright for Fergie!
Fergie then decided to put away the microphone for
awhile. ”I was basically burned out, not so much as for the music
but more as for how the whole industry works and all this hassle
and bullshit you have to deal with, apart from doing good music.”
After some years in the restaurant business, Fergie felt the passion
for music again, and he recorded an album with his all-time buddy
Ricky Phillips (Frederiksen / Phillips), released in 1994.
After this, Fergie felt that he wanted to live for
and by the music again, and he released his brilliant solo album
”Equilibrium” in 1999. Fergie is also a member of The World
Classic Rockers, a band that plays a lot of hits with different
musicians from former great bands. We could name some names: Denny Laine,
Spencer Davis, Randy Meisner, Michael Monarch,
Nick St. Nicholas,
Kurt Griffey, Steve Stewart, Ron Wikso, and of course Fergie himself.
Fergie also is part of The Voices Of Classic Rock,
which contains such great talents like Glenn Hughes, Jimi Jamison,
Mike Reno, Pat Travers, Alex Ligertwood, Spencer Davis, and others.
This is a collection of great musicians that travels around the
world doing special shows.
Fergie was also in the exciting band Mecca that
received rave reviews worldwide for its first album released in
2002 entitled Mecca. He was a part of the band with his good friend
Joe Vana, and David Hungate - the former bass player of Toto - to
name a couple. What will happen with Mecca is unsure, but Fergie
will not continue his work with them.
For additional music credits for Fergie, see
The Official Fergie Frederiksen Website.