Pre-Black Sabbath Appice took up the drums at the age of nine, taking lessons from the same teacher as his brother
Carmine Appice. When he was sixteen, Appice and his band BOMF met
John Lennon at
Record Plant Studios. Lennon took a liking to the group and used them as a backing band in several performances, including the final one before his death. Appice moved on to record with
Rick Derringer on
Derringer (1976),
Sweet Evil (1977), and
Derringer Live (1977), before forming his own band Axis and recording ''It's A Circus World'' (1978).
Black Sabbath Appice joined
Black Sabbath during the tour in support of the band's
Heaven and Hell album in 1980.
Sharon Arden had approached him with an offer to join
Ozzy Osbourne's new band but he turned it down at the urging of his older brother Carmine. About a month later he was approached by
Black Sabbath, whose longtime drummer
Bill Ward had just departed mid-tour to deal with personal issues. Appice was told over the phone that Ward was "missing in action", and he subsequently met with
Tony Iommi and the pair hit it off. Iommi was a fan of Appice's work on Axis' ''It's A Circus World'' and he invited Appice to meet the rest of the band and rehearse in Los Angeles the following day. When he initially joined Black Sabbath, he was expected to only complete the tour, as it was anticipated that Ward would return at some point. Appice's first show with Black Sabbath was at the
Aloha Stadium in Hawaii. Though he had rehearsed the songs in Los Angeles before leaving for Hawaii, he was forced to use hastily written
crib notes on stage for each unfamiliar song. "The endings were a bit sloppy and long, but as the tour went on it got tighter and tighter," Appice recalled of his early days in the band. Appice rejoined his Black Sabbath bandmates Ronnie James Dio,
Geezer Butler, and
Tony Iommi in 2006 as
Heaven & Hell, touring and releasing one studio album,
The Devil You Know, before Dio's death in 2010. In 2006 he recorded the CD
Dinosaurs, together with
Carl Sentance,
Carlos Cavazo and
Jeff Pilson. The CD was produced by guitarist-musician Andy Menario (leader of
Martiria band) and featured lyrics written by Italian poet Marco Roberto Capelli, who is also
Martiria's lyricist. He is currently participating in "Drum Wars" shows with his brother Carmine, which feature a guest appearance from vocalist
Paul Shortino. Appice formed the band
Kill Devil Hill with former
Down and
Pantera bassist
Rex Brown, guitar slinger Mark Zavon and lead vocalist Dewey Bragg. Kill Devil Hill's self-titled debut album was released May 22, 2012, via
Steamhammer/SPV and landed at No. 9 on the Billboard Top New Artist Albums (HeatSeekers) Chart, No. 41 on the Top Hard Music Chart and No. 50 on the Independent Album Chart. Following the death of Dio frontman
Ronnie James Dio in 2010, the original lineup of Vinny Appice on drums,
Jimmy Bain on bass,
Vivian Campbell on guitar and
Claude Schnell on keyboards reunited along with vocalist
Andrew Freeman to perform covers of Dio songs they originally recorded. This lineup, without Schnell, would become
Last in Line. On November 25, 2013, it was announced that Appice had formed a new band called WAMI, which features vocalist
Doogie White, bassist
Marco Mendoza, and 16-year-old Polish guitarist Iggy Gwadera. On February 12, 2014, the upcoming album title was revealed to be
Kill the King, due for release in the spring. On February 25, the album cover and track listing were revealed. On March 10, 2014, it was announced that Appice had left
Kill Devil Hill, and that former
Type O Negative drummer
Johnny Kelly was his replacement.
Last in Line began recording tracks for a new album of original material in April 2014, followed by the release of a snippet of the new track "Devil in Me" in June. The album,
Heavy Crown, produced by former Dio bassist
Jeff Pilson, was released in early 2016. The band has since released further albums. In early 2014 Appice joined hard rock band
Hollywood Monsters where he played on the album
Big Trouble (on 8 tracks out of 11) which was released in 2014 on
Mausoleum Records. The album features
Steph Honde on vocals and guitars,
Tim Bogert on bass,
Don Airey on keyboards and
Paul Di'Anno on lead vocals on the bonus track. The same year, Appice was a guest performer on
Eli Cook's album,
Primitive Son. In 2015, it was announced that Appice would appear on the EP "Mainly Songs About Robots" by Australian progressive rock band
Toehider, to be released in September 2015. The same year, Appice was invited to play drums for a new project of
Whitesnake and former
Night Ranger guitarist
Joel Hoekstra, called Joel Hoekstra's 13, with an album called
Dying to Live, released on October 16. On September 30, the band
Resurrection Kings was announced. The band is formed by Appice with former Dio guitarist
Craig Goldy,
Sean McNabb on bass and Chas West on vocals. On January 18, 2017, Appice was inducted into the Hall of Heavy Metal History for his contributions to Heavy Metal drumming. In 2023, Vinny put together a new touring band called Sabbath Knights, performing the music of Black Sabbath and Dio. == Discography ==