Dave Abbruzzese

David James Abbruzzese (born May 17, 1968 in Stamford, Connecticut) is an American musician who was the drummer for the American rock band Pearl Jam from 1991 to 1994. He replaced drummer Matt Chamberlain in 1991, shortly before the release of the band's debut album, Ten. Abbruzzese played on the band's next two records, Vs. and Vitalogy before being asked to leave the band.

Abbruzzeze grew up Mesquite, Texas, and dropped out North Mesquite High School at an early age so he could focus on playing music. He started playing in the Texas music scene, eventually forming a band called Dr. Tongue, a three-piece, funk-influenced band that gigged in the Dallas, TX area. He was a friend of Chamberlain and when Chamberlain decided to leave Pearl Jam, he urged the other members to call Abbruzzese.

In 1991 Abbruzzese joined Pearl Jam and played Pearl Jam's live shows supporting the Ten album, performing on MTV Unplugged and a Saturday Night Live appearance. The band quite suddenly found itself enormously popular, bearing the brunt of attention given to the Seattle music scene and the genre known as "grunge."

With Abbruzzese, the band recorded its second studio album, Vs., released in 1993, and played with Pearl Jam through most of 1994.

In 1994, the band began a much-publicized boycott of Ticketmaster. Although Abbruzzese performed on the band's third studio album, Vitalogy, he was fired in August due to personality conflicts with the rest of the band, four months before the album was released.

Since his tenure with Pearl Jam, Abbruzzese worked with Texas' Hairy Apes BMX. He mixed, produced, and engineered the band's 2000 album, Out Demons and also lent the band a hand behind his drum kit on one Midwestern tour.

Abbruzzese married his childhood sweetheart, Laura Whisman, on September 2, 2006, and currently lives in Texas, in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.