Like many musicians and songwriters I know who were born and raised in the same era as myself, seeing The Beatles on that fateful night on February 9, 1964 changed everything for me. Seeing those 4 guys in their suits and ties and long hair singing so beautifully just fascinated me. And the guitars and drums! Come on! I’ll never forget it!
I actually had already taken piano lessons from Mr. Knotts across the street (his first name was Don, believe it or not!), but he became frustrated with me because I always memorized the sheet music for my lessons and played from memory. I just wanted to learn and not have to look at the notes. Probably wasn’t great but perhaps it’s why I’m able to play by ear so well and learn and remember songs. Came in handy when I became a pro. But sometimes I wish I’d been more disciplined so I could read better now.
One Christmas my parents gave me a Philco electric guitar that came with a portable record player. It had an input jack on the side where you could plug the guitar and play along to the records. I wore out Beatles VI! That was seriously one of the best gifts ever! I truly learned to play with that guitar and record player!
My number one influence then (and now) was The Beatles but I soon got into other music like The Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder and Bay Area bands like Moby Grape, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Steve Miller Band.
Before long I started playing in a garage band with my friends Dennis Spadini and Mitch Hinard. I can still vividly remember walking through my neighborhood of Santa Venetia in San Rafael, California and hearing bands playing in their garages here and there. I learned my first bar chord right in the middle of the street on Sunny Oaks Drive where we lived at the time from Stacy Accamozzo! Huge day for me! We learned “Paint It Black” by The Rolling Stones. Sometimes I would move to drums and Mitch to guitar just for the fun of it. I’ve always loved drums and still play and record with them to this day.
Playing with friends, I was introduced to a singer guitarist named John Lovrien. We hit it off and formed a band with Mitch and Dennis and called ourselves Logos. We were big fans of Poco where I suspect the inspiration for the name came from. I believe it was Mitch's idea for the name. We played many high school dances and noontime concerts around Marin County.
Around 1973 I moved into a house in Novato, CA on Simmons Lane. John and I moved in with about 4 or 5 other musicians. It was around this period when we met John Langford and Don McLeod who were both from Atlanta. They joined Logos and became a five piece band with John and I on guitars and vocals, Don on bass, John on keyboards and a new addition to the band, Dave Obiedo on drums.
John Langford and Don McLeod brought a whole new feel of music into the band… sort of southern rock meets prog rock. It was very exciting and inspired me to write songs for the band. Langford had a whole array of guitars he owned that he let me play. I played his Gibson Birdland, Ric 330 and a Firebird. All amazing guitars!
That version of the band lasted a couple years until we went out separate ways around 1974. John Lovrien, Mitch Hinard and I joined forces with 2 musicians from the South Bay. They were Danny Bertoldi on guitar and Michael Byrnes on keyboards. They also introduced us to a female singer named Teri Smith. This was my first experience playing in a band with a female singer. It was cool and we started playing more r&b and soul music. We also began working with a manager named Hank Doing and were signed to start playing top 40 nightclubs. We would often do 5 sets a night 5 days a week. We played a lot of cover songs with Teri, John and I trading of lead vocals. We played the hits but always snuck in our original songs. We played up and down the Pacific coast.
As time progressed we began to grow tired of playing mostly Top 40 clubs. I will say that I did learn a lot about playing live and performing. But my real drive was to be a songwriter and pursue my love of recording which I had developed ever since hearing Paul McCartney’s first album McCartney. I had learned that he played all the instruments on the album and overdubbed all the vocals (with a little help from his wife Linda). I would always love tracking with a guitar or piano and then adding the drums, bass and vocals myself. I still do it to this day!
So around 1977 Logos stopped playing nightclubs and focused on our own material and being an original band. The lineup now was John Lovrien and I with Danny, Michael and new addition John d’Fonseca on drums. We started playing local clubs around the Bay Area pursuing a record deal. In 1978 we played the Haight Street Fair in San Francisco to 100,000 people! Johnny d's godfather Mickey Hart (Grateful Dead) mixed us that day!
In 1978 we auditioned for Bill Graham productions for a possible record deal. The showcase went great but soon after Johnny d took a gig with Jerry Garcia which totally squashed our deal. It was devastating but we moved forward.
In 1979 Danny Bertoldi left the band and we hired drummer Greg Elmore (Quicksilver Messenger Service) to round out our 4 piece band. I was a huge Quicksilver fan so having Greg in our band was monumental! Great drummer and great guy! We changed our name to Allies.
Allies ran it’s course around 1981. Not long after, we met Mike and Flavia Morris (drums and bass). John Lovrien and I joined forces with them to create a new group. They already had the name Page One and we decided to go with that. We recorded one album together and again, were going after a record deal. Again, we came so close!
1984 saw a big move for us when we decided to move to Los Angeles to go after our dream. We all lived together as a band which was not easy. We lasted a couple of years before we decided to break up unfortunately.
But one great thing happened for me before we broke up. We were playing a club down in Newport Beach, CA. During a break a gentleman came up to us to tell us how much he enjoyed us. Turned he was John Elephante, who was singing for Kansas at the time. He mentioned that a friend of his was doing a music video and was looking for a female bass player for the shoot. Our bass player Flavia fit the bill perfectly. Turned out the friend was David Pack (formerly of Ambrosia). Flavia did the video and David was so grateful that he offered to return the favor. Flavia told him about me and my songwriting. I was connected with David and sent him a demo of some of my self produced songs. He loved them so much and immediately offered me a reel to reel Tascam tape recorder so I could make better sounding tracks. I’m eternally grateful for his generosity and belief in me!
I was still living in Van Nuys, CA by myself and now in no band for the first time in a very long time. But I still continued to write and record on that 8 track that David gave me. But with no band I was having a hard time financially. I came very close to getting a job at Guitar Center! I actually interviewed and landed the job which really distressed me as I've always been so determined to only be a musician.
David happened to be playing with Michael McDonald (The Doobie Brothers) at the time. He called me and asked me if I would be interested teching for him on a few McDonald shows. I jumped at the chance and let Guitar Center know I would decline their offer.
Being a guitar tech was humbling for sure but I only did for a few shows. But I got to meet Michael and his killer band. I’ll never forget the first time I heard Michael sing at a rehearsal. I always liked The Doobie Brothers but hearing Michael sing live was amazing! Anyway, I did the shows and that was that.
Again, I was out of work and seriously thought about leaving Los Angeles and going back to Marin County. Then one day David told me he was going to be leaving Mike’s band and that he would put my name forward to Mike as a possible replacement. I got an audition date and proceeded to study the live tapes of Mike and the band inside out! I learned all the guitar parts and vocals. Some of the vocals were really high range so I was hoping those wouldn’t be the ones I’d have to cover.
Then came the audition which was held in Sunland, CA at David’s studio. It took place in the control room of the studio with Michael, Chuck Sabatino and Scott Plunkett. No drummer was present. We proceeded to go through Mike’s songs. I honestly don’t know what we played first but I know we did Minute By Minute, Real Love and Sweet Freedom to name a few. It was a little strange playing without a drummer but it went pretty smoothly until I was given the high vocal parts I dreaded getting. I did ok but honestly, I struggled a little. Michael assured me I would grow into it. But I was worried when I left the audition and didn’t know the outcome.
I was nervous all the next day waiting for a call. Michael finally called me himself and told me I had the job! Our first show would be July 3, 1988 in Ventura, CA. We did one rehearsal before heading out! Mike’s never been one for lots of rehearsing but this band was tight and I did know my parts very well. The full band was Mike on keys, me on guitar and vocals, Chuck Sabatino on keyboards and vocals, Chazz Frichtel on bass and vocals (Chazz and I formed a friendship that lasts to this day), Scott Plunkett on keys, George Perilli on drums and Vince Denham on sax. This was the band I’d always dreamed of playing in!
In 1995 Michael was asked to do the 25th Anniversary Tour with The Doobie Brothers. Their guitar player John McFee was obligated to a tour in Japan with an artist over there which left him unavailable for the tour. Suggestions were made about possible guitarists and it was actually Pat Simmons who asked Michael, “Hey, what about your guitar player?”. So I was asked to do the tour which lasted nearly 4 months in all. It was fantastic! Playing all those classic Doobie songs from Pat, Tommy AND Michael. A guitar players dream! Pat and Tommy (Johnston) were super generous in giving me lots of solos and letting me shine as a member of the band. I’m proud to still call them friends.
In 1995 Michael moved to Nashville and started asking me to come out from California to write songs. We had begun collaborating on songs a few years prior. In ’95 we wrote “Obsession Blues” together which was a departure for Mike musically. We wrote great stuff together so I got on a plane and headed out to write in Nashville.
Our first writing session there was at a production house on Music Row there. We ended up writing
“No Love To Be Found”
and
“Someday You Will” that day and recorded the basic demo for it downstairs. I was pleased that these songs were the beginning of what would become the
BLUE OBSESSION album. When producer Tommy Sims came on the project he liked our demos so much he kept the basic parts we recorded and just added to them. I’m very proud of my involvement on BLUE OBSESSION. I co-wrote one other song for the album,
“Build Upon It”
(which I also co-produced along with
"Where Would I Be Now").
After traveling to Nashville several times my wife and I wondered if it would be a good place to live and raise our two kids Adam and Rachel. So in 1998 we moved to Franklin, TN which is about 17 mile south of Nashville.
Since being here in Nashville I’ve continued to play, record and tour with Michael. I’ve been so fortunate to play and record and write with many artists including Amy Holland (McDonald), Chazz Frichtel, John Goodwin, Pat Simmons, Hall & Oates, Tommy Sims, Wilson Phillips, Chaka Khan, AWB, Billy Preston, India Arie, Toto, Christopher Cross, Cher, Marc Cohn, Jeff Bridges and many more.
Besides collaborating which so many wonderful artists I’ve continued to write and record my own solo music. I now have over a dozen albums you can
check out here.
I’ve just completed an album of ‘cover’ songs that contains versions of the most influential artists that have inspired me like The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, CSN&Y, Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds, Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones and more. It’s a true labor of love and a tribute to those bands and artist that made me want to be a musician and songwriter. It’s titled
CHIARO DESTINO and will be available in June 2024.
I’m also producing my next album of original songs that will be released in 2025.
