Ronnie Magri is an award-winning drummer, percussionist, and music producer whose career spans rock, jazz, glam, punk, and burlesque revival. He has performed and recorded with artists including Little Richard, Joey Ramone, Dita Von Teese, Bob Ezrin, Dick Wagner, Stiv Bators, Cheetah Chrome, Herbert Hardesty, The Throbs, Ronnie Spector, John Sinclair, Shim Sham Revue, and Jerry Jumonville.
Magri began his national recording career in 1985 as a member of Combat Records recording artist Sweet Pain, appearing on the band’s self-titled debut album alongside guitarist Richie Ranno of Starz and future L.A. Guns bassist Kelly Nickels. In 1988, he signed with Geffen Records as a member of The Throbs. The band released The Language of Thieves and Vagabonds (1991), produced by Bob Ezrin and Dick Wagner, and featuring Little Richard on piano. The group’s single “Come Down Sister,” co-written by Magri, received heavy rotation on MTV’s Headbangers Ball.
After relocating to New Orleans in 1999, Magri became a central figure in the early neo-burlesque revival and trad-jazz movement as drummer and bandleader of the Shim Shamettes and the Shim Sham Revue—among the first 1950s-style burlesque revues to perform with a live jazz band. In 2000, as leader of the Port of New Orleans Jazz Band, a traditional jazz ensemble focusing on a repertoire from the 1930s through the 1950s, he won OffBeat Magazine’s “Best of the Beat Award” for Best Emerging Traditional Jazz Band.
His 2001 solo release, Shim Sham Revue – Music of New Orleans Burlesque Shows of the 30s, 40s & 50s, earned two OffBeat Music Award nominations for "Best Album by a Louisiana Artist" and "Best Emerging Band" and a 2002 Big Easy Award nomination for “Best Traditional Jazz Band”. The album was recorded at Word of Mouth Studio in New Orleans, Louisiana, and focused on traditional New Orleans jazz associated with historic Bourbon Street burlesque. His music later drew the attention of burlesque icon Dita Von Teese, who incorporated his recordings into her performances and appeared live with Magri and the Shim Sham Revue.
In 2004, Magri and his band were featured headliners at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. In 2017, three selections from Shim Sham Revue were featured on Broadway in Noël Coward’s Present Laughter, starring Kevin Kline, who won a Tony Award for his performance.
Magri’s recordings have also been featured across major television networks, including Bravo, A&E, Showtime, Oxygen, and VH1.
