Fergie Frederiksen was born Dennis Hardy Frederiksen on May 15, 1951 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. His family emigrated from Denmark to the states more than 100 years ago.

 

Fergie Frederiksen passed January 18, 2014. Fergie has been a true Champ, and a fighter, and for this he got several years extra with us, and actually a couple of extra albums that will be of great joy for fans all over the world for many more years to come.

 

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, calledEquilibrium.

 

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.