Vince DiCola
Encyclopedia
Vince DiCola is an Italian-American composer, keyboardist, and arranger best known for his work on the The Transformers: The Movie
, Staying Alive
and Rocky IV
soundtracks. DiCola also pioneered the use of sequencers on his soundtrack recording for Rocky IV, one of the first to exploit the Fairlight CMI
& Synclavier II's
computer's sequencing capabilities.
After majoring in percussion in college, DiCola began his professional music career upon moving to California in 1981. One of his early credits as a session musician was his synthesizer performance on Juice Newton
's Dirty Looks and Old Flame albums released in 1983 and 1985, respectively. His first major break came when he was chosen to co-write several songs on the Staying Alive
soundtrack (1983) with Frank Stallone
. Following his work on the Staying Alive project, he was recruited by Sylvester Stallone
to contribute key compositions for Rocky IV
(1985), followed by scoring the original animated Transformers
movie in 1986. Since then he has been active in the capacity of producer, recorded and performed as both a solo artist and member of several bands, and continues to work as a session musician and contributor to film soundtracks as composer and performer.
DiCola counts Yes
and Emerson, Lake & Palmer
among his biggest influences in progressive rock music. He also admires film-music composers Thomas Newman
, John Powell
and Jerry Goldsmith
.
, in spite of the poor critical reception of the film. He also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song - Motion Picture for the song Far From Over which he co-wrote with Frank Stallone
for the same film.
He received a Golden Raspberry Award in 1986 for his work on the Rocky IV soundtrack. The song The Touch from the Transformers soundtrack won DiCola a 1986 Apex award for Best Original Song - Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror.
.
First released as a BotCon
'97 exclusive, the 2-CD set Til All Are One contains the first full score of the movie. BotCon 2001 saw the releases of The Protoform Sessions (featuring demos and rarities and including extended commentary from DiCola) and Artistic Transformations: Themes and Variations, containing solo piano renditions of songs from the soundtrack, as well as another complete score on a single disc named Lighting Their Darkest Hour
.
He has been a guest at multiple Transformers conventions, including appearances at BotCon'97, BotCon'98, BotCon 2000, and The Official Transformers Collectors' Convention 2004 in Rosemont, Illinois
.
An interview with DiCola was included on the Region 1 DVD
release of The Transformers: The Movie released by Rhino Entertainment
in the year 2000. However, this interview is not present on the 20th Anniversary Edition released by Sony
& BMG
in 2006.
DiCola credits his work on Transformers with getting his music exposed to a much wider audience and getting him the most attention and fame he has had as an artist.
An additional solo album called Falling off a Clef
was released in 2004. In the same year he completed the soundtrack to the low-rated 2004
film Sci-Fighter, collaborating with the composer Kenny Meriedeth in October 2003, using Kenny's synthethizer and sound banks. The Falling off a Clef
contains six new tracks (Castle of the Gods suite, Alien March, Fallen Angel, FS#7, A. P.B., Castle of the Gods Variation) + a selection of 20 tracks from Sci-Fighter soundtrack.
In 1991-1992, he worked with the 5-piece rock band Storming Heaven in the mid 1990s releasing the 1996 album titled Life In Paradise. In addition to DiCola on keyboard, guitar and vocals, the Storming Heaven lineup included lead vocalist Rick Livingston, Jethro Tull
drummer
Doane Perry
, guitarist
Curtis Taylor, and keyboardist Casey Young. Life In Paradise was written during 1991.
The band was originally formed in January 1991. They spent the first half of the year creating the start of a musical suite entitled "Jessie's Journey", an idea that later was abandoned in favour of just individual songs. "It was supposed to be an entire album based on a kind of science fiction theme. Those first four songs ("Cross the Line", "Red Knight", "The Passage" & "Dream House") they're sort of like the opening four songs of a suite."
Around the same time in 1996, DiCola, Storming Heaven bandmate Perry, and Tower of Power
vocalist Ellis Hall
formed a soul/rock trio named Thread and released a self-titled album.
In 1999, he recorded experimental and largely improvisational instrumental tracks under the name of The Firing Squad. These recordings remain unreleased.
In 2001, he worked again with Perry and released In-VINCE-ible!, a collection of diverse works from various past projects, with ex-members of Santana and Chicago assisting as session musicians, and featuring several special guests including Steve Walsh
of Kansas
and his Storming Heaven bandmates.
DiCola appeared as keyboardist on the first Hughes Turner Project
album, HTP
in 2003.
He and Perry once again formed a trio, this time with bassist Paul Ill and called DPI, to release a 3-track EP called Found Objects in 2006. Previously the trio had worked with vocalist Vincent Kendall and guitarist Reeves Gabrels in releasing a 42-minute suite called Pity The Rich based on recordings made at the same time. The jam-session style recordings for these releases were originally intended to be part of a new DiCola solo instrumental release, but while editing the tracks in his home studio DiCola felt they had the feel of a project for a band and chose to expand his original plan to include the other performers.
In 2007, "Paulie's Robot" from Rocky IV
, was used in the episode of Family Guy: "Moving Out(Brian's Song)".
In 2008, he was featured on the Gran Turismo 5 Prologue
Original Soundtrack and was responsible for arranging the series theme, "Moon Over the Castle" (with the guitarist Doug Bossi) as well as another piece titled "Truth". Both titles were written by the Japanese Band T-Square with which Vince worked on the album Truth 21c (2001, with Takeshi Itoh, as T-Square Plus).
He described his work on the Gran Turismo's soundtrack's project in an interview with Music4Games
, noting that he collaborated with T-Square and Doug Bossi on the project, and looks forward to becoming involved with game music in the future.
In 2009, he composed the song ”BOUND & GAGGED” as a submission for the upcoming Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. The track featured DiCola on keyboards and drums, Kenny Meriedeth on guitars, and Rick Livingstone on vocals but was not selected by Michael Bay for the Transformers II soundtrack.
The Transformers: The Movie
The Transformers: The Movie is a 1986 animated feature film based on the animated series of the same name. It was released in North America on August 8, 1986 and in the UK on December 5, 1986....
, Staying Alive
Staying Alive
Staying Alive is the 1983 film sequel to Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta as dancer Tony Manero, with Cynthia Rhodes, Finola Hughes, Joyce Hyser, Steve Inwood, Julie Bovasso, and dancers Viktor Manoel, Kate Ann Wright, Kevyn Morrow and Nanette Tarpey...
and Rocky IV
Rocky IV
Rocky IV is a 1985 American film written by, directed by, and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the fourth and most financially successful entry in the Rocky franchise...
soundtracks. DiCola also pioneered the use of sequencers on his soundtrack recording for Rocky IV, one of the first to exploit the Fairlight CMI
Fairlight CMI
The Fairlight CMI is a digital sampling synthesizer. It was designed in 1979 by the founders of Fairlight, Peter Vogel and Kim Ryrie, and based on a dual-6800 microprocessor computer designed by Tony Furse in Sydney, Australia...
& Synclavier II's
Synclavier
The Synclavier System was an early digital synthesizer, polyphonic digital sampling system, and music workstation, manufactured by New England Digital Corporation, Norwich, VT. The original design and development of the Synclavier prototype occurred at Dartmouth College with the collaboration of...
computer's sequencing capabilities.
Biography
Vincent Louis DiCola aka Vince Dicola was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1960.After majoring in percussion in college, DiCola began his professional music career upon moving to California in 1981. One of his early credits as a session musician was his synthesizer performance on Juice Newton
Juice Newton
Judith Kay "Juice" Newton is an American Pop music and Country singer, songwriter and guitarist...
's Dirty Looks and Old Flame albums released in 1983 and 1985, respectively. His first major break came when he was chosen to co-write several songs on the Staying Alive
Staying Alive
Staying Alive is the 1983 film sequel to Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta as dancer Tony Manero, with Cynthia Rhodes, Finola Hughes, Joyce Hyser, Steve Inwood, Julie Bovasso, and dancers Viktor Manoel, Kate Ann Wright, Kevyn Morrow and Nanette Tarpey...
soundtrack (1983) with Frank Stallone
Frank Stallone
Frank P. Stallone, Jr. is an American actor, singer/guitarist and Golden Globe and Grammy Award-nominated songwriter. He has appeared in many Hollywood films and television. He is the younger brother of Sylvester Stallone.-Early life:...
. Following his work on the Staying Alive project, he was recruited by Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone
Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone , commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed...
to contribute key compositions for Rocky IV
Rocky IV
Rocky IV is a 1985 American film written by, directed by, and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the fourth and most financially successful entry in the Rocky franchise...
(1985), followed by scoring the original animated Transformers
Transformers
A transformer is a device that transfers electrical energy from one circuit to another by magnetic coupling.Transformer may also refer to:* ASUS Eee Pad Transformer, an Android 3.2 Honeycomb tablet computer manufacturer by Asus...
movie in 1986. Since then he has been active in the capacity of producer, recorded and performed as both a solo artist and member of several bands, and continues to work as a session musician and contributor to film soundtracks as composer and performer.
DiCola counts Yes
Yes (band)
Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...
and Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Emerson, Lake & Palmer, also known as ELP, are an English progressive rock supergroup. They found success in the 1970s and sold over forty million albums and headlined large stadium concerts. The band consists of Keith Emerson , Greg Lake and Carl Palmer...
among his biggest influences in progressive rock music. He also admires film-music composers Thomas Newman
Thomas Newman
Thomas Montgomery Newman is an American composer and conductor, best known for his many film scores. He is one of the more respected and recognized composers for modern film and has scored over fifty feature films in a career which spans nearly three decades.Newman has received a total of ten...
, John Powell
John Powell
John Powell is a British composer, best known for his scores to motion pictures. He has been based in the United States since 1997 and has composed the scores to over fifty feature films. He rose to fame in the late 1990s and 2000s, scoring numerous animated films, and collaborating with...
and Jerry Goldsmith
Jerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....
.
Awards
In 1983, DiCola was a co-nominee for the Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Special Grammy for co-writing the soundtrack of the movie Staying AliveStaying Alive
Staying Alive is the 1983 film sequel to Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta as dancer Tony Manero, with Cynthia Rhodes, Finola Hughes, Joyce Hyser, Steve Inwood, Julie Bovasso, and dancers Viktor Manoel, Kate Ann Wright, Kevyn Morrow and Nanette Tarpey...
, in spite of the poor critical reception of the film. He also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song - Motion Picture for the song Far From Over which he co-wrote with Frank Stallone
Frank Stallone
Frank P. Stallone, Jr. is an American actor, singer/guitarist and Golden Globe and Grammy Award-nominated songwriter. He has appeared in many Hollywood films and television. He is the younger brother of Sylvester Stallone.-Early life:...
for the same film.
He received a Golden Raspberry Award in 1986 for his work on the Rocky IV soundtrack. The song The Touch from the Transformers soundtrack won DiCola a 1986 Apex award for Best Original Song - Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror.
Transformers
DiCola has had enough of a cult following amongst Transformers fans to have warranted the release of several albums of music related to the Transformers movie, as follow-ups to the release of the original 1986 The Transformers: The Movie soundtrackThe Transformers The Movie: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
The Transformers The Movie: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the 1987 soundtrack from the motion picture The Transformers: The Movie. It was released in the United States by Scotti Bros. Records on LP and cassette. It was released in Japan by Pony Canyon on CD in 1989. In 1992, Scotti Bros....
.
First released as a BotCon
BotCon
BotCon, briefly known as "The Official Transformers Collectors' Convention" , is an annual convention for Transformers fans and collectors. BotCon has been held annually since 1994...
'97 exclusive, the 2-CD set Til All Are One contains the first full score of the movie. BotCon 2001 saw the releases of The Protoform Sessions (featuring demos and rarities and including extended commentary from DiCola) and Artistic Transformations: Themes and Variations, containing solo piano renditions of songs from the soundtrack, as well as another complete score on a single disc named Lighting Their Darkest Hour
Lighting Their Darkest Hour
Lighting Their Darkest Hour is a soundtrack album from the film The Transformers: The Movie. It was released as an exclusive at the 2001 BotCon convention. It features the complete score from the film by the film's composer Vince DiCola. This album is considered a complete soundtrack score as it...
.
He has been a guest at multiple Transformers conventions, including appearances at BotCon'97, BotCon'98, BotCon 2000, and The Official Transformers Collectors' Convention 2004 in Rosemont, Illinois
Rosemont, Illinois
Rosemont is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States located immediately northwest of Chicago. The village was incorporated in 1956, though it had been settled long before that...
.
An interview with DiCola was included on the Region 1 DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
release of The Transformers: The Movie released by Rhino Entertainment
Rhino Entertainment
Rhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label and production company. It is owned by Warner Music Group.-History:Rhino was originally a novelty song and reissue company during the 1970s and 1980s, releasing compilation albums of pop, rock & roll, and rhythm & blues successes...
in the year 2000. However, this interview is not present on the 20th Anniversary Edition released by Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
& BMG
BMG
Bertelsmann Music Group, , was a division of Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Japan's Sony Corporation of America on October 1, 2008. It was established in 1987 to combine the music label activities of Bertelsmann...
in 2006.
DiCola credits his work on Transformers with getting his music exposed to a much wider audience and getting him the most attention and fame he has had as an artist.
Solo works
DiCola released his first solo work in 1986, an album simply titled Piano Solos. He later worked both as an arranger and performer on a 1991 multi-artist project called Artfully Beatles, which led him to release Artistically Beatles, an album of ten Beatles songs he arranged and performed, in 1993.An additional solo album called Falling off a Clef
Falling off a Clef (album)
Falling off a Clef is the first full length album by Vince Dicola, composer to the music score of The Transformers: The Movie. It is now commercially available to buy the album on the website. The album is a selection of pieces from a project Vince and Kenny Meriedeth were approached to work on...
was released in 2004. In the same year he completed the soundtrack to the low-rated 2004
2004 in film
The year 2004 in film involved some significant events. Major releases of sequels took place. It included blockbuster films like Shrek 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Passion of the Christ, Meet the Fockers, Blade: Trinity, Spider-Man 2, Alien vs. Predator, Kill Bill Vol...
film Sci-Fighter, collaborating with the composer Kenny Meriedeth in October 2003, using Kenny's synthethizer and sound banks. The Falling off a Clef
Falling off a Clef (album)
Falling off a Clef is the first full length album by Vince Dicola, composer to the music score of The Transformers: The Movie. It is now commercially available to buy the album on the website. The album is a selection of pieces from a project Vince and Kenny Meriedeth were approached to work on...
contains six new tracks (Castle of the Gods suite, Alien March, Fallen Angel, FS#7, A. P.B., Castle of the Gods Variation) + a selection of 20 tracks from Sci-Fighter soundtrack.
Other works
Other than his solo work, DiCola has worked with various musical groups.In 1991-1992, he worked with the 5-piece rock band Storming Heaven in the mid 1990s releasing the 1996 album titled Life In Paradise. In addition to DiCola on keyboard, guitar and vocals, the Storming Heaven lineup included lead vocalist Rick Livingston, Jethro Tull
Jethro Tull (band)
Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969.Initially playing blues rock with...
drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
Doane Perry
Doane Perry
Doane Ethredge Perry is an American musician, composer and author. He has been working since 1984 as drummer and percussionist with Grammy award winning band Jethro Tull.-Early life:...
, guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
Curtis Taylor, and keyboardist Casey Young. Life In Paradise was written during 1991.
The band was originally formed in January 1991. They spent the first half of the year creating the start of a musical suite entitled "Jessie's Journey", an idea that later was abandoned in favour of just individual songs. "It was supposed to be an entire album based on a kind of science fiction theme. Those first four songs ("Cross the Line", "Red Knight", "The Passage" & "Dream House") they're sort of like the opening four songs of a suite."
Around the same time in 1996, DiCola, Storming Heaven bandmate Perry, and Tower of Power
Tower of Power
Tower of Power is an American R&B-based horn section and band, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing for over 43 years. They are best known for their funky soul sound highlighted by a powerful horn section...
vocalist Ellis Hall
Ellis Hall
Ellis Hall was a former professional footballer, who played most notably for Stoke City, Huddersfield Town, Hamilton Academical and Halifax Town....
formed a soul/rock trio named Thread and released a self-titled album.
In 1999, he recorded experimental and largely improvisational instrumental tracks under the name of The Firing Squad. These recordings remain unreleased.
In 2001, he worked again with Perry and released In-VINCE-ible!, a collection of diverse works from various past projects, with ex-members of Santana and Chicago assisting as session musicians, and featuring several special guests including Steve Walsh
Steve Walsh (musician)
Steve Walsh is a singer and songwriter best known for his work as a member of the progressive rock band Kansas.-Introduction:The keyboardist/vocalist/songwriter/producer/percussionist is best known for his visionary work with Kansas...
of Kansas
Kansas (band)
Kansas is an American rock band that became popular in the 1970s initially on Album-Oriented Rock charts, and later with hit singles such as "Carry On Wayward Son" and "Dust in the Wind"...
and his Storming Heaven bandmates.
DiCola appeared as keyboardist on the first Hughes Turner Project
Hughes Turner Project
Hughes Turner Project was a musical project formed in the 2001 by bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes and guitarist/vocalist Joe Lynn Turner ....
album, HTP
HTP (album)
HTP is the debut album by Hughes Turner Project, a musical collaborators Glenn Hughes and Joe Lynn Turner ; it was released in 2002 on MTM Music and Pony Canyon Records.-History:After a failed attempt in the late 80s to write an album together, Glenn Hughes and Joe Lynn Turner again...
in 2003.
He and Perry once again formed a trio, this time with bassist Paul Ill and called DPI, to release a 3-track EP called Found Objects in 2006. Previously the trio had worked with vocalist Vincent Kendall and guitarist Reeves Gabrels in releasing a 42-minute suite called Pity The Rich based on recordings made at the same time. The jam-session style recordings for these releases were originally intended to be part of a new DiCola solo instrumental release, but while editing the tracks in his home studio DiCola felt they had the feel of a project for a band and chose to expand his original plan to include the other performers.
In 2007, "Paulie's Robot" from Rocky IV
Rocky IV
Rocky IV is a 1985 American film written by, directed by, and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the fourth and most financially successful entry in the Rocky franchise...
, was used in the episode of Family Guy: "Moving Out(Brian's Song)".
In 2008, he was featured on the Gran Turismo 5 Prologue
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is a PlayStation 3 exclusive title which was announced at the E3 2007. This short version title was a precursor and sampling of Gran Turismo 5 and replaced Gran Turismo HD Concept...
Original Soundtrack and was responsible for arranging the series theme, "Moon Over the Castle" (with the guitarist Doug Bossi) as well as another piece titled "Truth". Both titles were written by the Japanese Band T-Square with which Vince worked on the album Truth 21c (2001, with Takeshi Itoh, as T-Square Plus).
He described his work on the Gran Turismo's soundtrack's project in an interview with Music4Games
Music4Games
Music4Games was a video game music information site originally launched in 1999. It focused on the video game soundtrack industry and claimed to target dedicated gamers, game music fans, audiophiles, students, composers, developers, publishers, producers, audio directors and music executives as a...
, noting that he collaborated with T-Square and Doug Bossi on the project, and looks forward to becoming involved with game music in the future.
In 2009, he composed the song ”BOUND & GAGGED” as a submission for the upcoming Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. The track featured DiCola on keyboards and drums, Kenny Meriedeth on guitars, and Rick Livingstone on vocals but was not selected by Michael Bay for the Transformers II soundtrack.
External links
- http://www.tdrsmusic.com/vince.html
- http://www.music4games.net/Features_Display.aspx?id=251Interview with Music4GamesMusic4GamesMusic4Games was a video game music information site originally launched in 1999. It focused on the video game soundtrack industry and claimed to target dedicated gamers, game music fans, audiophiles, students, composers, developers, publishers, producers, audio directors and music executives as a...
] - http://www.melodic.net/interviewsOne.asp?interviewId=63 interview in 2004 by Kaj Roth for melodic.net