By Ray Shasho
Internationally renowned singer and composer Gino
Vannelli is most recognized for his blue-eyed soulful harmonies and alluring sex
appeal. But over the years, Vannelli has cultivated his incredible singing
voice to master diverse musical styles while continuing to inspire audiences
worldwide.
The Montreal, Quebec crooner was musically
influenced at an early age by his father Russ Vannelli who was a musician in
Maynard Ferguson’s band. Gino’s brothers Joe and Ross also became musicians and
were always a major factor in his life and throughout his musical career.
Perseverance led to Vannelli’s big opportunity in
show business. After a short stretch in New York, Gino and his brothers departed
for Los Angeles in a last ditch effort to score a record contract. Vannelli anxiously
waited outside the A&M recording studios and confronted legendary
trumpeter/composer Herb Alpert to seek his help. Alpert granted Gino an
audition, and a few days later Vannelli signed with A&M Records.
In 1973, Gino Vannelli recorded his debut album, Crazy Life. His brother Joe would become
his full-time keyboardist and music arranger. Vannelli’s second studio album, Powerful People was released in 1974. The album spawned his first hit,
a funky/jazzy/ soulful arrangement entitled, “People Got to Move” (#22 on
Billboards’ Top 100). The album was produced by Gino and his brother Joe. Joe
Vannelli would become a significant musician, producer, and composer in the
music industry.
In 1975, Vannelli was invited to appear on Soul
Train, becoming the first significant white singer to perform on a black music program.
By 1978, Gino Vannelli had developed superstar
status after the release of his sixth studio album Brother to Brother. The album generated the poetic megahit, “I Just
Wanna Stop” (#4 U.S. and #1 Canada) and the sensational singles, “Wheels of
Life” and “The River Must Flow.”
“I just Wanna Stop” earned Gino a Grammy Award
nomination and became his highest charting single to date. Gino’s brother Ross
Vannelli wrote, “I just Wanna Stop” and there was resistance from Gino to sing
it. Ross Vannelli would become an invaluable composer in years to come. Gino Vannelli
also toured with Motown legend Stevie Wonder in 1978. Brother to Brother was certified platinum in 1979. Vannelli was
also the recipient of Canada’s Juno Award for Best Male Artist.
(Gino
Vannelli albums of the 70s …Crazy Life,
Powerful People, Storm at Sunup, The Gist of the Gemini, A Pauper in Paradise,
Brother to Brother)
The 80s would prove to be another pivotal and
successful period in the music career for the soulful crooner. In 1981,
Vannelli would deliver yet another smash hit with the passionate, “Living
Inside Myself” (#6 Hit Billboard’s Top 100) from the Nightwalker album.
The album Black
Cars produced the hits “Black Cars,” and “Hurts to be in Love.” Brothers Joe and Ross won a Juno Award for
Recording Engineer of the Year for the title track.
(Gino
Vannelli albums of the 80s …Nightwalker,
Black Cars, Big Dreamers Never Sleep)
Throughout the 90s, as music changed, Vannelli began
to better familiarize himself with other genres and styles.
(Gino
Vannelli albums of the 90s were … Inconsolable
Man, Live in Montreal, Yonder Tree, Slow Love)
In 2003, Gino Vannelli astonished the entertainment
world by truly showcasing his magnificent vocals and passion for music on the
album Canto. Gino sang original
compositions in several languages, including French, Italian, and Spanish. The
music was compared to a cross between a full-blown opera and a Broadway
musical. Canto received rave reviews.
After the release, Vannelli was asked by the Vatican to perform for Pope John
Paul II.
(Gino
Vannelli albums of 2000s are … Canto,
These Are the Days, A Good Thing, Stardust in the Sand, The Best And Beyond)
Sixty year old Gino Vannelli continues to tour
worldwide, including sold-out performances in Las Vegas. His current tour
begins in Tokyo, but he’ll be making several rare appearances in Florida. Gino
Vannelli will be performing live onstage January 26th at the Capitol
Theatre in Clearwater, Fl and at the House of Blues in Orlando, Fl on January
27th.
This
is a must see show!
To purchase tickets go to www.rutheckerdhall.com or call (727)
791-7400 for more information.
Or http://www.houseofblues.com/venues/clubvenues/orlando/ 407-934-BLUE (2583)
I had the rare opportunity to chat with Gino before
he left for Japan last week.
Here’s my interview with
singer/songwriter/musician/producer/international superstar/ GINO VANNELLI.
Ray
Shasho: Hi Gino, you’re actually in the studio right now?
Gino
Vannelli: “Yes, getting ready for rehearsals with the band.
We’re going to Tokyo to do eight shows, but preparing for the southern shows
already. It’s been such a long time since I’ve been in the southern United
States … I feel like I’m playing in a foreign country. (All laughing)
But I’m really looking forward to it and just
bending over backwards to do this, because I’ll be in Sweden and Denmark till
around January 23rd and making a near impossible run to get to
Clearwater and Orlando. But the dates came up and I really wanted to do this
because I haven’t seen a southern face for a long time.”
Ray
Shasho: You’ll be at the historic Capitol Theatre in Clearwater, Florida on
January 26th and then at the House of Blues in Orlando on January 27th
… we’re really looking forward to those dates.
Gino
Vannelli: “We’re also playing at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, Georgia on January 24th.
Ray
Shasho: The tour kicks off from Tokyo … I speak with a lot of artists who
really seem to enjoy playing for Japanese audiences.
Gino
Vannelli: “They’re different. Not as vocal as some American or
European audiences, but have their own way of showing appreciation, and it
takes a little while to get use to it. Sometimes you wonder if their digging it
and towards the end of the set they’re kind of losing it.”
Ray
Shasho: Your dad was a big band musician, was he a big influence in your
decision to pursue a music career?
Gino
Vannelli: “Yea, of course. My dad was just so much into music
… he was a record aficionado of big band, jazz, Latin, a real lover of music.
We were privy to a lot of records that a lot of kids my age had no idea
existed. I mean, when I was seven or eight, of course I knew who Ricky Nelson
was, but I also knew who Miles & Coltrane was. I also knew who Caruso was,
or Ravel was. So we had a very broad understanding and perspective of music
from the onset.”
“But I started playing drums when I was seven or
eight years old and got really serious about it. I met Gene Krupa and other
great drummers, and then became so enthused about it that I became the house
drummer in a major club when I was eleven years old. We got to see a lot of the
big bands that came through like Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw, Count Basie, and
some of the great singers. And of course I’d be looking at Ella Fitzgerald
singing, but looking at Sam Woodyard playing the drums more. And it was just a
great experience.”
Ray
Shasho: So you first learned to play the drums, when did you discover that you
could sing?
Gino
Vannelli: “That was kind of an accident because I was playing
the drums in my group and the singer couldn’t quite cut “It’s Not Unusual” by
Tom Jones. I kept telling him …You sing it this way …Try it this way. And then
in a dare he said, “If you’re so smart, why don’t you sing it.” So I said,
Dammit… I will! So I ended up singing the song and a few other people said you
ought to get off the drums when you’re singing it. And I was terrified because
my drums were my fortress. When I eventually did get out from behind the drums
and I noticed the girls looking at me, I thought, hey, this is pretty cool,
maybe I should get from behind the drums more.”
Ray
Shasho: Did you emulate anyone in particular growing up?
Gino
Vannelli: “You get into performing for the craziest
reasons, and finally as you get a little older; it’s the love of what music
does to you that really motivates you.”
“But when I was a kid, I’d love just listening to
the acoustic version Bob Dylan. I loved folk music … Peter, Paul and Mary, The
Kingston Trio, and loved the simplicity. At the same time, I loved Oscar
Peterson. Oscar, Ray Brown, and Ed Thigpen, all had their trio doing a weekly
show in Canada every Friday. When I came home from school, I’d be stuck in
front of the TV around four or five o’clock where they’d have this half an hour
jazz show that was really exceptional back in those days.”
“But you know … I went to see every rock concert
too. I went to see The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Gerry & the Pacemakers,
and everybody that came to town … so that was a cool thing to do too.”
Ray
Shasho: You’ve become a successful international artist, not only because of
your soulful hits of the 70s and 80s, but because of singing in several
languages and using that gifted voice for original opera and Broadway musical
style compositions.
Gino
Vannelli: “I was lucky along the way to get a few mainstream
hits, but as time wore on, I made a decision in the late 80s...early 90s, to
pursue my own train of thought, and I was lucky enough that people followed me,
and it created a different kind of career, a career that I enjoy to this date
worldwide.”
“The four concerts that I’m doing in Scandinavia are
with some of the top jazz musicians that exist there. We’re doing a show that’s
completely different, and I like to do that because it really kind of
challenges my vocal chops and arranging. Coming to the south, I’ll be taking my
west coast band, and that’s really at the heart of who I really am. Because its
music that people really know me by, dating all the way back to 1972-73 … up
onto introducing some brand new songs from a new album that I’m working on
right now … which spans four decades. It’s interesting to see people’s reaction
to the band that just kills those old songs.”
Ray
Shasho: What musical direction will you be taking the new album?
Gino
Vannelli: “I would say it’s not really a direction, it’s like
painters that go through periods. For me … I go through periods where I really
love classical and then recorded an album like Canto. Or a little more like acoustic jazz and I recorded Yonder Tree. And now … for the last two
years, I’ve been in this period of just gravitating towards blues and the blues
idiom. And of course I like to mix and match things so I’m infusing a little
bit of jazz, a little bit of classical, a little bit of soul, into the whole blues idiom and I’m
coming up with something that I’m really interested in. So it’s really
primarily a blues project that has some other influences in it.”
Ray
Shasho: I’ve chatted with a lot of artists lately who are gravitating to the
blues.
Gino
Vannelli: “It’s a very pure and simple idiom and really gets
to the point. It also kind of gets you in the gut too.”
Ray
Shasho: Gino, talk about your first encounter with Herb Alpert.
Gino
Vannelli: “Herb was one of the original guys who was a
hip-shooter … he really shot from the hips, and when he believed in something
he didn’t have to go through formalities. He just had a hunch and he went with
it.”
“I ran through the gates as I saw him walking across
the parking lot, I accosted him, and he was shocked, and a little bit afraid.
But when he saw the desire in my eyes and before the guard hauled me away, he
asked what do I want? I said I really wanted to record. He just said, “Come
back in a half an hour and audition for me.” And I went back in a half an hour
and I played him “People Gotta Move” on my little Aria classical guitar and he
said, “Okay let’s record.”
Ray
Shasho: So sometimes, it’s just really all about perseverance.
Gino
Vannelli: “Isn’t that the case. You try to earn a PhD, a
Masters, or just Bachelors or whatever. You try and raise a family …you’re
trying to get from point A to point B and sometimes in traffic ... and sometimes
it just takes a little determination.”
“The love of the art is what keeps me going. Like I
said, it’s that sound that runs through your bones. When I’m singing at the
piano and I’m having a really nice fun day singing, if I have a headache, the
headache will immediately dissipate just the notes going through my head.”
Ray
Shasho: Gino, were you in fact the first white performer to sing on Soul Train?
Gino
Vannelli: “I hear there may have been another artist, but for
all intensive purposes … I think I’m the white guy people remember being on
Soul Train. You know how that all happened was very strange. I was staying at a
motel on Sunset Boulevard and recording the Powerful
People album, and I was a little bit dogged that day because things weren’t
working out in the studio like I wanted them to. So, I went out to the pool to
try and grab a nap and I heard, “Crazy Life” the title cut from my first album,
which was really a dud and didn’t sell anything at the time. And I heard it being sung at the pool
area, echoing off the brick walls of the motel. So, I followed it and wondered
who’s singing that song? I thought …that sounds like my song!”
“I finally came upon Stevie Wonder and his brother.
So as Stevie was singing, “Crazy Life” his brother said, “Hey, there’s the
dude!” So, I met Stevie and we spoke and
gave each other a big hug, and he said, “Hey, you want to tour with me?” He
said, “Chaka Khan is going to pass on the tour, would you like to do some dates
with me?” So, I took the tour and we did seven or eight dates, and halfway in
the tour, I got a call from Don Cornelius (Bless his soul). He said, “Would you
like to do Soul Train?” I said, Don I’m flattered, I’d love to do Soul Train,
but I didn’t know if he knew that I was white. So, I said very-very
reluctantly, Don, you know I’m white. He said, “Well, I consider you beige.
(All laughing) He was very gracious and it really was helpful for me to do Soul
Train because, “People Gotta Move” made it to the Top10 on the R&B charts
after that.”
Ray
Shasho: I was on the air working top 40 radio when, “I just Wanna’ Stop” (1978)
and “Living Inside Myself” (1981) was released. I remember all the hundreds of requests
that I received from the listeners to play those songs …those hits are timeless.
Gino
Vannelli: “That’s why we redo them. We stay true to the record
as we stay true to the spirit of the song. And people will be amazed how this
band handles it. It’s so dynamic. This band, like I say, just kills it, in a
way that is so magical. And I’m taking this west coast band to the south with
me and that’s why I’m anxious to show this band off.”
Ray
Shasho: Your brother Ross actually wrote, “I just Wanna’ Stop?”
Gino
Vannelli: “Ross wrote, “I just Wanna’ Stop” with a
little bit of kicking from me here and there … saying, I won’t sing that word!
But my brother Ross is great! He’s my manager, production man, and also does
sound. And my brother Joe and I are so very close.”
Ray
Shasho: It’s not easy to have a close working relationship with your brothers.
Gino
Vannelli: “The key is I think … Robert Frost says …”Good fences
make good neighbors” Now I think, Good boundaries make good brothers. We know
who we are and we know not to cross certain boundaries. There’s no end to the
love and dedication. When you’re young, you want to convince everyone that you’re
right and they’re wrong. As you get older, it’s not important if your right or wrong,
it’s important that we work together and get this thing done. So, it makes my
mom very happy.”
Ray
Shasho: Ross and Joe are musicians as well, so you all share the love of music
together.
Gino
Vannelli: “That’s the common denominator.
Ray
Shasho: Did you grow up in an Italian household?
Gino
Vannelli: “I actually grew up speaking English and French …because
of Montreal. All my friends were French. I still speak it pretty well.”
Ray
Shasho: I’ve chatted with Frank Marino, another very interesting artist/musician
from Montreal. Besides being an incredible guitarist, Frank has studied Theology
for most of his life.
Gino
Vanelli: “Yes, I know. Music will inevitably get you into Philosophy,
and once you logically see that through, will end up getting you into Theology.
Once you see that through, it will end up getting you to a simple place of
being happy with yourself and everybody around you. With all the catastrophes that
are going on, and all the hardships that are going on around the world, you don’t
do the world any service by walking around in pain and at war with yourself.
You’d do a lot better good, a lot better service, if you find that thing within
yourself that says …move forward it’s okay. It’s are duty to see through it and
work through it.”
Music was not always my fan. Sometimes there were
lean years, years where I was uncertain if I was doing the right or wrong
thing. And years where there wasn’t the acceptance, years of economic
hardships, and failures. That’s when you get to know either who you are, what your
made of, or what’s inside of you. If you don’t probe deeper, you’ll never know,
and you can’t go on.”
Ray
Shasho: So, how did you persevere through the difficult times Gino?
Gin
Vannelli: “At first, I became a man in search of truth, a seeker
of truth, because I wanted to know what the problem was. Then I realized, as I
was seeking truth more and more, the truth was far greater than my personal
problems. A little time and wisdom does a lot. You can never really get rid of
it. I can’t ever forget the lean years … losing my house, and losing my car, or
half the house walking out because they didn’t like what I was playing. You can’t
forget those years … they teach you.”
Ray
Shasho: Sadly, many musicians have a tough road if they can’t produce another
hit or feel as they are washed up … and many times leading up to taking their
own lives.
Gino
Vannell: “I can relate to that …it’s almost like the artist
finds himself in the position of an alcoholic. The artist has to hear that one
more round of applause or has to know he has that one more hit, just like the
alcoholic needs that one more drink. And once the artist says, you know what, I’m
more than this. First is the man …and then the music. If the man is not intact,
the music will not happen.”
Ray
Shasho: You must have really enjoyed singing on the Canto recordings.
Gino
Vannelli: “I sure did, it was a labor of love. And it’s
still some of the most requested music that I get. And we’ll be singing some of
that material on the tour.”
“When I was in Italy a few years back, right before
Pavarotti died, I was with an artist called Pino Danieli who is a big blues
artist in Italy. I said, Pino, would you ask Luciano a question for me? Pavarotti
was seventy years old at the time. I asked… How does he keep his voice from
muddying up? He kind of covered up the phone and said, “Just take two
tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and water a day and everything will be fine.”
(All laughing) So for all you singers out there, that’s my little advice of the
day.”
Ray
Shasho: Gino, what’s your connection with Holland?
Gino
Vannelli: “I lived there for two years, 2006 and 2007, just twenty miles south of Amsterdam, and got a
different prospective on life, and it was a hell of an experience. Because
Amsterdam is so close to all the European cities, and such a hub, I was able to
perform, meet, and get a lot of new acquaintances in Italy, Scandinavia, France,
and Spain. So it was a whole new awakening for me.”
Ray
Shasho:
If you had a ‘Field of
Dreams’ wish …to sing a duet with someone from the past or present… who would you
choose?
Gino
Vannelli: “I think because I’m in the blues mode right now, I’d
love for Billie Holiday to sing with me.”
Ray
Shasho: Your latest release is The Best
and Beyond and you’re currently working on a new album …how about upcoming
collaborations?
Gino
Vannelli: “I’m going to be collaborating with Eric Benet on a
tune … and I like Soul/R&B singer Frank McComb too, and I’ll be looking for
a good country/soul singer for a tune that I wrote for the next album.”
Ray
Shasho: Gino, thank you for being on the call today … but most of all, for all
the great music you’ve given to all of us over the years. We’ll see you at the
Capitol Theatre in Clearwater on January 26th.
Gino
Vannelli: “It’s been my pleasure Ray, I hope we get to say
hello when we get to Clearwater.”
Gino Vannelli will be performing onstage January 26th
at the Capitol Theatre in Clearwater, Fl. Purchase tickets at www.rutheckerdhall.com or call (727)
791-7400 for more information.
Gino Vannelli will also be performing at the House
of Blues in Orlando, Fl on January 27th. To purchase tickets go to http://www.houseofblues.com/venues/clubvenues/orlando/ or call (407) 934-BLUE (2583)
Gino Vannelli Official Website www.ginov.com
Purchase
Gino Vannelli’s latest release, The Best
and Beyond at amazon.com or on
his official website.
Special
thanks to Ross Vannelli for arranging this interview.
Contact
classic rock music journalist Ray Shasho at rockraymond.shasho@gmail.com
Purchase
Ray’s very special memoir called ‘Check the Gs’ -The
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Book Review says Ray Shasho is a product of the
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