Gregory Raposo
Encyclopedia
Gregory Frank "Greg" Raposo (born May 3, 1985) is an American rock'n'roll
singer and actor. Raposo initially came to fame in the early 2000s as a member of the boy band
Dream Street
, but has subsequently branched out into a solo career as a rock singer in his band The Taken (formerly Raposo, Stereopath, and Raposo again). His self-titled debut solo album Greg Raposo was released in 2003 and charted at #40 in its opening week.
When Greg was two years old, he began to develop a fascination with the guitar
. When he was six years old, Mrs. Raposo decided that she was tired of having to buy more toy guitars because he kept breaking them, so she bought him his first real guitar and arranged for him to take guitar lessons with a private teacher. O'Connell, his teacher, advised him to take vocal lessons with his guitar classes. He was soon after entered into a talent contest. He won, singing an Elvis Presley
song. His mother then entered him on Star Search. He took second place and was referred to an agent.
. Deejay
Scott Shannon
agreed and Greg went on the air. Shannon thought that Greg was very talented and from that day on was crowned as "The Elvis Kid". Greg appeared on WPLJ for three years.
"The Elvis Kid" performed everywhere, including with The Jordanaires
and DJ Fontana who were Elvis' real backup band. Greg was the only child invited to perform at Graceland
for the 20th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death (1997) by Priscilla Presley
.
In 1996, Raposo auditioned for 'Broadway on Broadway', an extravaganza of Broadway performers. Greg got the honor of being the opener for the show and sang an original composition in front of fifty-thousand people.
After opening for 'Broadway on Broadway', he was cast in an off-Broadway singing group called "The Broadway Kids
", with whom he recorded two albums and met fellow future Dream Street member Chris Trousdale
. In 1998, both boys successfully auditioned for a group called "Boy Wonder". "Boy Wonder" had to be disbanded for lack of interest from sponsors. Greg and Chris were kept on hold for a new project called Dream Street.
Besides Dream Street and The Broadway Kids, Greg was involved with many charity and anti-substance abuse groups. The charities he was involved with included: The Kids for Kids Project, Audrey Hepburn/Children's Fund, Young Plaza Ambassadors Club, Jerry's Kids, and Variety, the Children's Charity
. Greg claims that Kids for Kids is his favorite credit and the most fulfilling thing he has ever taken part in.
in Farmingdale, New York
. The event was so successful that tickets sold out in less than two hours and he had to schedule a second concert for that day at the same venue, which also sold out. He subsequently performed at several radio station multi-artist shows, solo acts, and as an opening act for several bands.
On May 3, 2003 Raposo's first solo single, "Take Me Back Home", premiered on Radio Disney
as a part of their "Music Mailbag" segment. It received rave ratings, and won a spot on the station's playlist with an amazing 92% of the popular vote—setting records on RadioDisney.
Greg's second amazing debut-album single, "Every Summer", was premiered on the RadioDisney Music Mailbag on July 12, 2003, and again Greg broke records with an astounding 95% of the popular vote.
Greg's self-titled debut album hit shelves on September 2, 2003. The album was in the top fifty on the Billboard Top Sales chart (#40) and was #67 on the Billboard Top HeatSeekers chart the week of its release. The first single from the album, "Every Summer", debuted on the RadioDisney Top Thirty Countdown on September 14, 2003 at spot #22. He first debuted on the RadioDisney Dot Com Top 3 with "Every Summer" on November 19, 2003, at the #3 spot.
In November 2003, Greg embarked on his first national tour as a headlining act, co-heading with Stevie Brock
for the RadioDisney Jingle Jam Tour, with fellow ex-Dream Street Jesse McCartney
opening. The tour hit nineteen cities across the United States and the average audience size was around 2000 people for each venue.
Greg's second single, "Take Me Back Home", was officially added to the RadioDisney playlist on November 21, 2003.
. Greg Raposo has performed in many venues including Jones Beach Amphitheater, Nassau Coliseum and House of Blues
. At 16, Greg released a self-titled debut album of pop/rock songs, which debuted on the Billboard Independent Albums chart at #40, and released a live concert DVD last year.
Through years of various band formations, Raposo finally found what he was looking for in lead guitarist Nick Slobodskoy, 22. Nick was first a classically trained violinist, but that all changed when he was introduced to the music of Guns N' Roses
and purchased his first guitar 7 years ago. Nick formed rock band Floffus and later joined local band Brookside, sharing the stage with such national acts as Thursday, Taking Back Sunday
, The Starting Line
, Wheatus
and Superdrag
. Drummer Lou Vecchio, 21, started playing drums the moment his foot could reach the pedal. This third-generation drummer cites his father, Louis Vecchio, among his many idols. Endorsed by MRP Drums, Lou is recognized as one of the best drummers on Long Island. His tight rhythms and passionate playing brings a distinctive groove to the RAPOSO sound. Bassist Jakey Lee, 21, grew up on classic rock. He was in Brookside for several tours and played with Nick. He had also done some studio sessions with Lou, and their chemistry was already there. Matching Lou's tight rhythms brought Jake into the fold as the final member of RAPOSO.
. Jesse and Brian formerly led Long Island-based The Unlikely Heroes.
The third incarnation of RAPOSO were semi-finalists in the MTV2
Battle of the Bands for a spot on the RockBand II Tour and finished the voting process ranked in the top two.
in 2002, and in Destination Fame in 2004. He also played gary in Return to Sleepaway Camp
in 2008.
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
singer and actor. Raposo initially came to fame in the early 2000s as a member of the boy band
Boy band
A boy band is loosely defined as a popular music act consisting of only male singers. The members are expected to dance as well as sing, usually giving highly choreographed performances. More often than not, boy band members do not play musical instruments, either in recording sessions or on...
Dream Street
Dream Street
Dream Street was an American pop boy band that was formed in mid 1999 by Louis Baldonieri and Brian Lukow. Dream Street later disbanded in 2002 after a legal dispute between the parents and the group's managers...
, but has subsequently branched out into a solo career as a rock singer in his band The Taken (formerly Raposo, Stereopath, and Raposo again). His self-titled debut solo album Greg Raposo was released in 2003 and charted at #40 in its opening week.
Early life
Gregory Frank Raposo was born in New York May 3, 1985 to Maryann and Octavio Raposo.When Greg was two years old, he began to develop a fascination with the guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
. When he was six years old, Mrs. Raposo decided that she was tired of having to buy more toy guitars because he kept breaking them, so she bought him his first real guitar and arranged for him to take guitar lessons with a private teacher. O'Connell, his teacher, advised him to take vocal lessons with his guitar classes. He was soon after entered into a talent contest. He won, singing an Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
song. His mother then entered him on Star Search. He took second place and was referred to an agent.
Mid-career
Raposo was cast into sixteen regional and national commercials for everything from Kit-Kat candy bars to Crest toothpaste. Then at nine, he requested to be allowed to sing and play guitar on-air during a local live recording of a radio show on WPLJWPLJ
WPLJ is a radio station in New York City owned by the broadcasting division of Cumulus Media. WPLJ shares studio facilities with sister station WABC inside 2 Penn Plaza in midtown Manhattan, and its transmitter is atop the Empire State Building. The station currently plays a Hot Adult...
. Deejay
Deejay
A deejay is a reggae or dancehall musician who sings and toasts to an instrumental riddim .Deejays are not to be confused with disc jockeys from other music genres like hip-hop, where they select and play music. Dancehall/reggae DJs who select riddims to play are called selectors...
Scott Shannon
Scott Shannon
Michael Scott Shannon is a radio disc jockey, current co-host of the "Scott and Todd in the Morning" show on WPLJ, host of The True Oldies Channel, and the official voice of The Sean Hannity Show.-Early Radio Career:...
agreed and Greg went on the air. Shannon thought that Greg was very talented and from that day on was crowned as "The Elvis Kid". Greg appeared on WPLJ for three years.
"The Elvis Kid" performed everywhere, including with The Jordanaires
The Jordanaires
The Jordanaires are an American vocal quartet, which formed as a gospel group in 1948. They are best known for providing vocal background for Elvis Presley, in live appearances and recordings from 1956 to 1972...
and DJ Fontana who were Elvis' real backup band. Greg was the only child invited to perform at Graceland
Graceland
Graceland is a large white-columned mansion and estate that was home to Elvis Presley in Memphis, Tennessee. It is located at 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard in the vast Whitehaven community about 9 miles from Downtown and less than four miles north of the Mississippi border. It currently serves as...
for the 20th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death (1997) by Priscilla Presley
Priscilla Presley
Priscilla Presley is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the ex-wife of singer Elvis Presley, and the mother of singer-songwriter Lisa Marie Presley....
.
In 1996, Raposo auditioned for 'Broadway on Broadway', an extravaganza of Broadway performers. Greg got the honor of being the opener for the show and sang an original composition in front of fifty-thousand people.
After opening for 'Broadway on Broadway', he was cast in an off-Broadway singing group called "The Broadway Kids
The Broadway Kids
The Broadway Kids is a concert group based in New York.The group consists of a rotating company of children, aged 8 to 16, who have performed in at least one...
", with whom he recorded two albums and met fellow future Dream Street member Chris Trousdale
Chris Trousdale
Christopher Ryan Trousdale is an American pop singer, actor, dancer and former member of the band Dream Street.-Early life:Trousdale was born in New Port Richey, Florida to a Greek American father and an Irish American mother.-Career:...
. In 1998, both boys successfully auditioned for a group called "Boy Wonder". "Boy Wonder" had to be disbanded for lack of interest from sponsors. Greg and Chris were kept on hold for a new project called Dream Street.
Besides Dream Street and The Broadway Kids, Greg was involved with many charity and anti-substance abuse groups. The charities he was involved with included: The Kids for Kids Project, Audrey Hepburn/Children's Fund, Young Plaza Ambassadors Club, Jerry's Kids, and Variety, the Children's Charity
Variety, the Children's Charity
Variety, the Children's Charity is an organisation founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on October 10, 1927, when a group of eleven men involved in show business set up a social club which they named the "Variety Club". On Christmas Eve 1928, a small baby was left on the steps the Sheridan Square...
. Greg claims that Kids for Kids is his favorite credit and the most fulfilling thing he has ever taken part in.
Solo career
He performed his first solo concert on October 13, 2002 at The DowntownThe Downtown
The Downtown was a music venue in Farmingdale, New York. The venue opened on December 21, 2001.On September 19, 2005, the Downtown sent an email to their mailing list announcing their closing, thanking the fans and bands for support, and offering refunds for the upcoming shows. No reason was cited...
in Farmingdale, New York
Farmingdale, New York
The Village of Farmingdale is an incorporated village on Long Island within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York in the United States...
. The event was so successful that tickets sold out in less than two hours and he had to schedule a second concert for that day at the same venue, which also sold out. He subsequently performed at several radio station multi-artist shows, solo acts, and as an opening act for several bands.
On May 3, 2003 Raposo's first solo single, "Take Me Back Home", premiered on Radio Disney
Radio Disney
Radio Disney is a radio network based in Burbank, California and headquartered out of the Disney Channel headquarters on West Alameda Ave., from where it has been based since November 2008. Prior to that, the network was based in Dallas, Texas...
as a part of their "Music Mailbag" segment. It received rave ratings, and won a spot on the station's playlist with an amazing 92% of the popular vote—setting records on RadioDisney.
Greg's second amazing debut-album single, "Every Summer", was premiered on the RadioDisney Music Mailbag on July 12, 2003, and again Greg broke records with an astounding 95% of the popular vote.
Greg's self-titled debut album hit shelves on September 2, 2003. The album was in the top fifty on the Billboard Top Sales chart (#40) and was #67 on the Billboard Top HeatSeekers chart the week of its release. The first single from the album, "Every Summer", debuted on the RadioDisney Top Thirty Countdown on September 14, 2003 at spot #22. He first debuted on the RadioDisney Dot Com Top 3 with "Every Summer" on November 19, 2003, at the #3 spot.
In November 2003, Greg embarked on his first national tour as a headlining act, co-heading with Stevie Brock
Stevie Brock
Stephen Ray "Stevie" Brock is an American pop singer. He grew up outside of Dayton, Ohio. Brock began singing when he was two years old. At eight, he wrote his first song...
for the RadioDisney Jingle Jam Tour, with fellow ex-Dream Street Jesse McCartney
Jesse McCartney
Jesse McCartney is an American singer-songwriter, actor and voice actor. McCartney achieved fame in the late 1990s on the daytime drama All My Children as JR Chandler. He later joined boy band Dream Street, and eventually branched out into a solo musical career...
opening. The tour hit nineteen cities across the United States and the average audience size was around 2000 people for each venue.
Greg's second single, "Take Me Back Home", was officially added to the RadioDisney playlist on November 21, 2003.
Raposo
Raposo has headlined several times at New York's Knitting FactoryKnitting Factory
The Knitting Factory is a music venue and concert house with locations in Brooklyn, Boise, Reno, and Spokane. The club originally specialized in jazz and experimental music and has expanded to showcasing all genres of music, performing arts and comedy....
. Greg Raposo has performed in many venues including Jones Beach Amphitheater, Nassau Coliseum and House of Blues
House of Blues
House of Blues is a chain of 13 live music concert halls and restaurants in major markets throughout the United States. House of Blues first location was in Cambridge's Harvard Square. It was opened in 1992 by Isaac Tigrett, co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe, and Dan Aykroyd, star of The Blues Brothers...
. At 16, Greg released a self-titled debut album of pop/rock songs, which debuted on the Billboard Independent Albums chart at #40, and released a live concert DVD last year.
Through years of various band formations, Raposo finally found what he was looking for in lead guitarist Nick Slobodskoy, 22. Nick was first a classically trained violinist, but that all changed when he was introduced to the music of Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album...
and purchased his first guitar 7 years ago. Nick formed rock band Floffus and later joined local band Brookside, sharing the stage with such national acts as Thursday, Taking Back Sunday
Taking Back Sunday
Taking Back Sunday is a rock band from Long Island, NY, formed in 1999 by guitarist Eddie Reyes. Current members of the band are Adam Lazzara , John Nolan , Eddie Reyes , Shaun Cooper and Mark O'Connell ....
, The Starting Line
The Starting Line
The Starting Line is an American pop punk band based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that formed in 1999.- Formation and history :In 1999, the band that would become The Starting Line was initiated in Churchville, Pennsylvania via an e-mail from guitarist Matt Watts to vocalist/bassist Kenny Vasoli...
, Wheatus
Wheatus
Wheatus are an American rock group from Northport, New York. They are known for their 2000 single "Teenage Dirtbag" which was featured in the movie Loser, as well as in the HBO miniseries Generation Kill.-1995-2002: Formation and Wheatus:...
and Superdrag
Superdrag
Superdrag is an alternative rock band from Knoxville, Tennessee. The band had a hit with its 1996 single "Sucked Out" off their album Regretfully Yours, for which a video clip was broadcast regularly on MTV...
. Drummer Lou Vecchio, 21, started playing drums the moment his foot could reach the pedal. This third-generation drummer cites his father, Louis Vecchio, among his many idols. Endorsed by MRP Drums, Lou is recognized as one of the best drummers on Long Island. His tight rhythms and passionate playing brings a distinctive groove to the RAPOSO sound. Bassist Jakey Lee, 21, grew up on classic rock. He was in Brookside for several tours and played with Nick. He had also done some studio sessions with Lou, and their chemistry was already there. Matching Lou's tight rhythms brought Jake into the fold as the final member of RAPOSO.
Stereopath
The second incarnation of Raposo, Stereopath existed until guitarist Nick Slobodskoy left in February 2008. The band recorded an unreleased 6-song EP entitled "Stereopath".RAPOSO
The third incarnation of Raposo began in May 2008. Its members are Greg, Jesse Leo, Brian Corona, and Danny MillerDanny Miller
Danny Miller may refer to:* Danny Miller , co-executive producer of Fresh Air* Danny Miller , fictional character, played by Mitch Hewer, in the British musical drama Britannia High...
. Jesse and Brian formerly led Long Island-based The Unlikely Heroes.
The third incarnation of RAPOSO were semi-finalists in the MTV2
MTV2
MTV2 is a cable network that is widely available in the United States on digital cable and satellite television, and is progressively being added to analogue cable lineups across the nation...
Battle of the Bands for a spot on the RockBand II Tour and finished the voting process ranked in the top two.
Acting career
Raposo has also pursued an acting career, appearing as himself in The Biggest FanThe Biggest Fan
The Biggest Fan is a film based around the band Dream Street . The main characters are Chris Trousdale and his "Biggest Fan" Debbie Worden...
in 2002, and in Destination Fame in 2004. He also played gary in Return to Sleepaway Camp
Return to Sleepaway Camp
Return to Sleepaway Camp is a 2008 American horror film starring Felissa Rose, Jackie Tohn, Paul DeAngelo, and Isaac Hayes; and was written and directed by Robert Hiltzik...
in 2008.