Joe Cerisano, is an American singer, songwriter

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

, record producer

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 and President of Outta' the Woods Records. He is often referred to as "possibly the most famous anonymous singer in America".

Early life

Cerisano began performing professionally at the age of 14, being underage but still singing local speakeasys where liquor was sold in the dry state of West Virginia. Even before he was old enough to be in these clubs he was singing with a succession of regional bands in the north central West Virginia area. At sixteen he called Dave Coombs who was the leader of the biggest band in West Virginia, The Bonnevilles, who were the darlings of West Virginia University and who would travel out to NJ every summer to play in Somers Point NJ. At seventeen Joe was asked to join The Bonnevilles. It was the summer of 1968 the Bonneville played seven night a week with matinees on Sat and Sun from 3PM to 2AM earning his stripes as a real trooper. Coming home at the end of the summer called for a break. In the spring of 69 Combs called Joe again to possibly start another group which turned out to be Kabosse which eventually morfed into Elderberry Jak. Elderberry Jak secured a record deal with Kinny Roger's brother Leland in Memphis. He later moved to New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

 and then to California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. While in California in 1980, he and guitarist Earl Slick

Earl Slick

Earl Slick is a guitarist best known for his collaborations with David Bowie, Jim Diamond and Robert Smith, although he has also worked with other artists , John Waite, and even released some solo recordings.In the early 1970s, Earl Slick gained his...

 formed the rock band Silver Condor

Silver Condor (Band)

Silver Condor was an Album Oriented Rock band in the early 1980s. They released two albums, Silver Condor and Trouble at Home...

 under the Columbia Records

Columbia Records

Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

 label. Silver Condor had the Top 40 hit "You Could Take My Heart Away" in 1981.

Early career

In the late 1970s, Joe Cerisano and his guitarist/co-leader Lee Fink had one of the top original groups in a sea of cover bands in the New Jersey rock club scene. R-Band drew large crowds due to their original songs, which was rare for the time. Playing seven nights a week took its toll on the band so in December 1979, after a call from Earl Slick, Joe left the band to return to California. Six months later Silver Condor was formed, who played all the songs that were written for R-Band. After the breakup of Silver Condor, Joe returned to NYC in 1984.

In the mid-1980s, Cerisano's music career began to evolve into his becoming one of the most successful studio session singers in the United States. His commercial work in television and radio singing includes spots for Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...

, Chrysler

Chrysler

Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....

/Plymouth

Plymouth

Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...

, General Electric

General Electric

General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...

, Miller Beer, the United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

, the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 and numerous others.

During this period, Cerisano also did backing vocals on several albums by Michael Bolton

Michael Bolton

Michael Bolton is an American singer and songwriter. Bolton originally performed in the hard rock and heavy metal genres from the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s, both on his early solo albums and those recorded as the frontman of the band Blackjack...

, and he was the singer of the 1986 song "Hands Across America". The video was featured on MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

 and still is being played on Pop-up Video

Pop-up Video

Pop Up Video is a VH1 television show that "pops up" bubbles — officially called "info nuggets" — containing trivia, witticisms and borderline sexual innuendos throughout music videos. The show was created by Woody Thompson and Tad Low and premiered October 27, 1996. For a time, it was the...

 and VH1

VH1

VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...

.

On their Imaginos album, Blue Öyster Cult

Blue Öyster Cult

Blue Öyster Cult, often abbreviated BÖC, is an American rock band, most of whose members first came together in Long Island, NY in 1967 as the band Soft White Underbelly...

 featured Cerisano as the lead singer for the song, "The Siege and Investiture of Baron von Frankenstein's Castle at Weisseria". He and Gloria Estefan

Gloria Estefan

Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García de Estefan; known professionally as Gloria Estefan is a Cuban-born American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known as the "Queen Of Latin Pop", she is in the top 100 best selling music artists with over 100 million albums sold worldwide, 31.5 million of those...

 appeared together on the soundtrack of the 1988 musical, Goya; A Life in Song. In 1998, Cerisano was one of the lead vocalists chosen by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Trans-Siberian Orchestra is an American progressive metal band founded in 1993 by producer, composer, and lyricist Paul O'Neill, who brought together Jon Oliva and Al Pitrelli and keyboardist and co-producer Robert Kinkel to form the core of the creative team. Since then, TSO sold nearly 8...

 to be featured on their album, The Christmas Attic

The Christmas Attic

The Christmas Attic is the second album by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, a rock opera, and the second installment of their Christmas Trilogy, the sequel to Christmas Eve and Other Stories and the prequel to The Lost Christmas Eve...

and also was one of their featured lead vocalists on their tours from 2000 through 2003.

Cerisano sang backup for the rock band Korn

Korn

Korn is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The current band line up includes four members: Jonathan Davis, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu, and Ray Luzier. The band was formed as an expansion of L.A.P.D.The band released their first demo album,...

in November 1999, as they introduced their new album, Issues. A concert was staged live in New York City at the Apollo Theatre. Broadcast of this event was carried on more than 100 radio stations around the world, as part of the album's global debut.

In April 2000, Cerisano appeared on West Virginia Mountain Stage at Fairmont State College in Fairmont, West Virginia. Other invited guests on stage that evening included Eric Weissberg, who performed with Cerisano. Mary Black, Mick Moloney, Dee Carstensen and Dave Mallett also entertained the audience. The live performance was taped and later broadcast.

Many other renowned artists have also called upon Cerisano's talent during the span of his career; Felix Cavaliere, Richie Havens, Ian Hunter, Mick Ronson and Jack Scarangella are just a few of them.

External links

• http://www.cerisano.com/
• http://www.trans-siberian.com/index-main.php
• http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/cerisano_joe/bio.jhtml
• http://mainstreetfairmont.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=37
• http://ubl.artistdirect.com/nad/music/artist/bio/0,,413389,00.html#bio
• http://www.answers.com/topic/elderberry-jak
• http://www.tenorissimo.com/domingo/cdpop.htm#Goya%20-%20a%20Life%20in%20Song
• http://www.music.com/person/joe_cerisano/1/
• http://singer-songwriter.com/artist.php?id=2337
• http://www.trans-siberian.com/about/family.shtml
• http://gearfab.swiftsite.com/Catalog_List/catalog_21.html
• http://www.towerrecords.com/Music/Default.aspx?search_in=Artist&oft=Joe+Cerisano&artist_free=Joe+Cerisano
• http://www.answers.com/topic/joe-cerisano
• http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:f_OVoUSUSeMJ:www.mountainstage.org/html/Guest%2520Artist%2520List.doc+cerisano+mountain+stage&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1