Vannelli was born to an Italian family in Montreal, Quebec. His father, (Joseph) Russ Vannelli, sang with the Montreal dance bands of trumpeters Bix Belair and Maynard Ferguson.[3][2] His early ambition was to be a drummer. He admired Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich, and he played drums in a pop band while he was in high school. In 1969, at the age of seventeen, he signed a contract with RCA Records, using the name Vann Elli.[4][5] He studied music theory at McGill University in Montreal.[6]
Vannelli and his brother, Joe, moved to Los Angeles in 1972. Desperate and broke, they waited for hours in the parking lot outside A&M Studios, hoping to get a record deal. When Herb Alpert, the co-owner of A&M Records, finally emerged, Vannelli ran toward him and gave him a demo tape while being chased by security guards.[7] Alpert signed Vannelli and released his debut album, Crazy Life, in the summer of 1973.[8]
Vannelli was one of the first Caucasians (Dennis Coffey being the very first in January 1972) to appear on the television dance program Soul Train. In 1974, he was invited to tour with Stevie Wonder.[9] That same year, he released his second album, Powerful People, which contained his first major hit, “People Gotta Move”.[10]
Gino Vannelli live, Hilversum, De Vorstin, 10. Oktober 2018
He received the Juno Award for Most Promising Male Vocalist in 1975. In 1976, and in 1979, he received the Juno Award for Best Male Vocalist. He and his brother Joe, his musical partner during those years, shared the Juno Award for Best Production for Brother to Brother in 1979.[3]
Despite the success of singles "Black Cars" and "Hurts to Be in Love" (1985), from his album Black Cars, as well as "Wild Horses" (1987) from the album Big Dreamers Never Sleep, Vannelli only appeared live sporadically throughout the 1980s.
Departing from the jazz-pop idiom, Vannelli released two mostly acoustic jazz discs, Yonder Tree (1995) and Slow Love (1997). After producing the album Hitek Hiku for Danish jazz pianist Niels Lan Doky, Vannelli revisited his interest in western classical music with the song "Parole Per Mio Padre" (Words For My Father), dedicated to his late father, and composed in the style and tradition of Schubert.[citation needed] The recording came to the attention of Pope John Paul II who requested a performance of the song at the Vatican. Televised in Europe, the event caught the attention of the head of BMG Records who subsequently asked Vannelli to record a contemporary classical disc in the style of "Parole per Mio Padre". Canto, released by BMG in 2003, features songs sung in English, Italian, Spanish, and French, and is considered by fans and Vannelli himself to be one of his strongest musical accomplishments.[12][self-published source] In 2008, Vannelli became a symbol of sorts for the National Basketball Association championship run by the Boston Celtics. After each blowout home victory during the 2008 season, the video crew at the TD Banknorth Garden played a clip from Dick Clark's American Bandstand that featured a bearded disco dancer clad in a tight Gino Vannelli T-shirt. The tradition became known in Boston as "Gino Time" and Gino T-shirts became common at Celtics games.[13] The Wall Street Journal reported in 2008 that the dancer in the Gino shirt was a young man named Joseph R. Massoni, and that he died of pneumonia in 1990. He was 34 years old.[14]
"People Gotta Move" became a small hit again in the Netherlands in 2008 after this song was used in a commercial on TV and radio of the ANWB (Dutch road assistance).
On May 13, 2014, Vannelli's Live in L.A. CD/DVD compilation was released by the Sono Recording Group. The presentation was recorded live onstage at the historic Saban Theater in Los Angeles on November 8, 2013, which represented Vannelli's first performance in Los Angeles in more than 15 years. The recording also marks the first on-stage collaboration in many years between the three Vannelli brothers (including Ross Vannelli as producer, editor, and mixer).[citation needed]
Vannelli resides in Troutdale, Oregon, where he is active as a music teacher. He continues to perform throughout North America and Europe.[15]
Awards and honors
Grammy Award nomination, "I Just Wanna Stop", 1978
Juno Award, Best Male Artist, 1976, 1979
Juno Award, Recording Engineer of the Year, with Joe Vannelli, 1986, 1987, 1991
"—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released in that territory.
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