**US drummer**, born on 05 February 1956 in Republic, Pennsylvania, USA.

Attended Berklee College of Music in Boston and moved to Los Angeles after joining [[artist:1960918]].

It was in L.A. that he got his big break in the Spring of 1978, joining the ensemble for [[master:36314]].

Among other works in between, he continued to perform on Zappa works until 1983. He then appeared on Zappa's later works in the 1990's and also worked on projects with [[artist:237886]] & [[artist:296274]].

In 1990 Colaiuta joined [[artist:Sting]]'s touring band and appeared on several recordings.

His accomplished style and sight-reading skills have gained him a career that follows a path among a diverse range of musicians - from [[artist:90233]] to [[artist:5647]], [[artist:63507]], [[artist:63617]], [[artist:227848]] and many more.

His path crossed that of another Zappa artist, guitarist & songwriter [[artist:321418]], on the album [[master:79090]].

He has also cut tracks on Cuccurullo's works.

Colaiuta achieved a record setting 18 times "Drummer of the Year" awards from [Modern Drummer](https://moderndrummer.com/) magazine's annual reader polls.