Federici started to play accordion when he was seven years old, which he learned from watching
The Lawrence Welk Show. When he mastered classical music and
polka, his mother booked him at parties, clubs and on radio. While he continued his studies in classical accordion, he gained an interest in
jazz and
blues, after he heard a professor at the Neupauer Conservatory of Music in
Philadelphia play those styles on accordion. When he, along with
Vini Lopez, started the band Child at the end of the 1960s, their choice for a singer was Springsteen; then picked up by Music Masters Jazz label in 1997; it was later re-worked and re-issued as
Danny Federici on
Hip-O Records in 2001. Federici followed this up with a
smooth jazz album
Sweet, self-released on Backstreets.com in 2004; it was re-issued as
Out of a Dream on
V2 Records in 2005. Federici performed on other artists' records as well, including those of
Joan Armatrading,
Graham Parker,
Gary U.S. Bonds and
Garland Jeffreys. == Illness and death ==