John Taglieri

John Taglieri (born August 19, 1967) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and record label owner. Born and raised in New Jersey, he attended college for sound engineering in New York City and has played in various New Jersey bands as a drummer, lead guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, and vocalist. He released his first solo album Leap of Faith in 1999 on his own record company Leap Dog Music. His sixth independent release, Lives, was a 2009 grouping of EPs and books. He is officially sponsored by Ovation Guitars. A persistent touring musician, much of his music is acoustic or in the AOR rock style.

Early life

John Taglieri was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, and raised in the town of North Bergen, NJ, on the western side of the Hudson River. He began taking guitar lessons at age five and continued for two years, eventually quitting for a year to play drums, then returning to play guitar. He also learned to play bass guitar, keyboard, piano, trumpet, and sing. His first recordings were in early high school on a cheap 4 track recorder with his friends. He began playing and recording music professionally at age 15, and went on to earn a degree in Audio Engineering from The Center for the Media Arts in New York City.

Music Career

Early career

Since graduating, Taglieri has served in various New Jersey bands as either lead guitarist, drummer, bassist, keyboardist, or vocalist (lead and background). These bands have released various independent albums and toured on the local, regional, and national levels.

The first real band Taglieri played in was American Heartbeat, where he was lead guitar and background vocalist. They played original music and Bruce Springsteen covers at show, fairs, and festivals for AbOUT two years before breaking up. After the breakup of American Heartbeat, Taglieri again played lead guitar and background vocals for the band Sneaks Noise. They released an album in 1988 titled A Surge Of Existence which sold some 1600 copies, and were successful in the college touring and radio circuit. He also served as A Tour musician for the original and cover group Dr. Max. Taglieri played drums and sang lead and background vocals for a U.S. tour that encompassed over 260 live shows in one year. After the year touring with Dr. Max, he landed a job as the drummer and backing vocalist for the short-lived band Dayzanu. They played at the Beacon Theater in New York City and the now defunt Capitol Theater in Passaic, New Jersey.

In the early 1990's Taglieri founded the band Big Trouble with his friend, John Calendrillo. With an AOR sound, they received solid college airplay with the 6 song EP they released. With Taglieri as their frontman, they had a busy touring schedule in the Upper East Coast, doing a regional tour to support the album. During the tour, they played with Rick Derringer on the Reebok River Stage in New York City. The band broke up after experiencing personnel problems. Taglieri then joined the cover band King Tod, which had developed a decent following in the Northeast United States and did covers of classic 70's, 80's, and 90's rock. They played constantly for about 3 years, with Taglieri at different times playing guitar, bass, keyboards, and always sang. Taglieri and the King Tod drummer Tony Marchesani then joined the local cover band Bachelor Party, which did extensive local touring.

Leap Dog Music

In 1999 he started the private company Leap Dog Music, an independent record label and publishing company. Taglieri also owns and operates Dawg Pound Studios, a full service recording studio since 2005. Taglieri has recorded all of his own CDs there since 2005, as well as CDs by various local artists. He has also recorded voice overs for various TV commercials.

Solo albums

Leap of Faith (1999)

In the spring of 1997, while still working a day job and playing night gigs with Bachelor Party, Taglieri began writing prolifically. He had 190 individual songs by summer. He picked 30 to consider for a CD, and that September he began a period of recording that lasted an entire year. He did vocals and played every instrument on the album except keyboard, which were played by the session engineer Bill Colletti. After he finished recording he took the mixes to Platinum Studios, where it was mastered by Bob Allecca. He released the solo CD Leap of Faith on January 12, 1999.

He released Leap of Faith officially under Leap Productions, with the music publishing registered under ASCAP. He did all promotion and distribution himself. The album was being sold at Sam Goody, Tower Records, Compact Disc World, Borders Books, and Amazon.com. Within a fews months he had secured spots on major radio stations for InterViews and airplay, including performances and interviews on WTSR and WPLJ's Scott and Todd Morning Show in New York. The album was chosen as "1999 Pop Male CD of the Year" by Kweevaks Tracks, a large independent music website, as well as being in the Top 5 on the Rock Tracks website. In July 1999, the online retailer and indie music site Digital Cuts chose Taglieri as their Digital Cuts Artist of the month.

In 2000 A2 Records took an interest in the album after seeing Taglieri perform at the Ulstrasound Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. Not long after he finished his initial self-financed supporting tour for the album, A2 signed a one-record worldwide licensing deal for the Leap of Faith. They released an identical version of the CD in Europe in July 2000, particularly in Tower Records - UK and Virgin Megastores - UK. A2 secured airplay in Scotland, Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. A2 also released the album in the United States. To date, the CD has sold over 7,500 units worldwide, and is currently no longer available except in digital format.

Half & Half (2003)

His second solo release, Half & Half, was released on September 23, 2003 through Leap Dog Music. It was a 12 song album album with six studio tracks and six live tracks. All tracks are acoustic. The live tracks are from various shows over a two-year period, mostly from the Bottom Line in New York City, the same show where Taglieri was invited to open for guitar legend and Triumph founder Rik Emmett. The studio tracks were all new songs written by Taglieri and produced by Doug Mackie. It includes guest musicians Larry Chaney of the Edwin McCain Band, Taglieri's friend John Calendrillo, and guitarist Neil Rambaldi. It was released on Amazon.com, Borders Books & Music, Best Buy, Tower Records, and CD Baby. He started an acoustic tour on September 15, 2003 to support the album. The CD helped Taglieri earn the "UIMA Pop/Rock Artist of the Year" award.

2005-2008 albums

He later released his third 12-track album, NOW, on Leap Dog Music, keeping up his touring schedule with the new material. His fourth album, Wide Awake & Dreaming, was released on Leap Dog Music in April 2007. The 2008 Everything We Are EP was Taglieri's fifth release and was a departure from his usual acoustic style, and written with his friend and guitarist Brad Whitley. An extensive tour was booked to promote the CD along with a successful promotional tour with FYE.

Lives Volume I and II (2009)

Lives (April 2009) is a series of EP's and books chronicling the fictional characters Cate and Max, both professed unlucky rejects on a journey of discovery. Taglieri and his co-writer Brad Whitley had contacted storywriter Gil Gonzalez to formulate the combination of books and EPs, as well as graphic designer Tony Marchesani. The recordings for Lives were done at Dawg Pound Studios, with Taglieri & Brad Whitley handling most of the recording. Additional recordings were done at BoogieMan Studios in Nashville by Lee J. Turner (Darius Rucker Band) and Jason Gambill (Lady Antebellum), as well as at Room 56 in Congers, NY by Brian Fechino (Pat McGee Band). Lives Volume II, released in October 2009, was the second EDition of the LIVES Project. It continued the story from Lives both musically and in book form.

TAG the band

Taglieri founded the touring band TAG in East Rutherford, New Jersey. They are on his Leap Dog Music Label. Taglieri serves as frontman, while Brad Whitley serves as guitarist and backup vocalist. Tom Darby, who started his career on trombone opening for Dizzy Gillespie in 1982, is keyboardist, also playing harmonica and guitar. Dave Willard is on bass/vocals, and Rob "Action" Jackson is on drums and vocals. In November 2010 they released their debut album Forward. The band toured through November and December 2010 to support the CD. Rob Jackson parted ways from the band in January 2011, Brad Whitley & Dave Willard left the band in March of 2011. The current lineup of the band consists of Taglieri, Darby, Michelle "Wolfie" Wolf (Guitar, vocals), Luke Kessel (bass, vocals), & Pete Green (drums). Karl Dietel (keyboards, guitar, vocals) also performs with the band on occasion.

Taglieri has sold over 15,000 CDs worldwide during his career to date.

Touring

Taglieri has played over 2000 performing dates. He has performed in front of 80,000 people at Giants Stadium, where he performed a total of 10 times, for up to 50,000 people at the Quick Chek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning on five separate occasions, 40,000 people at Shea Stadium, 30,000 people at the Iowa State Fair, and over six times at the University of Mary Washington.

In 1999 he jammed on a stage with Little Richard, and has also shared the stage with Rik Emmett, Edwin McCain, The Gin Blossoms, Gavin DeGraw, Chuck Berry, Jeffrey Gaines, Sister Hazel, Michael Tolcher, Marc Broussard, Dennis DeYoung, Foreigner, Firehouse (band), Charlie Daniels, Brian Vander Ark, The Pat McGee Band, Indigo Girls, Butch Walker, Zac Brown, Josh Kelley, Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers, Francisco Vidal, Hootie & The Blowfish, Keaton Simons, Shawn Mullins, David Ryan Harris and Virginia Coalition. He has performed for the NFL, Major League Baseball, NASCAR, Major League Soccer, and various minor league baseball teams around the Northeast.

Taglieri has also toured for the US Military playing shows for the Navy at the Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia, Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily, Souda Bay Naval Base in Greece, Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station Naples, Italy, the Marines at Camp LeJeune (NC), and the Army at Fort Sam (Houston, TX) and Fort Stewart (GA). He performs over 200 dates per year in 30 states. He is currently booked by Ari Nisman at Degy Booking, as well as Chip Seligman and Rob Casey at James Turner Productions.

Media presence

Taglieri has secured hundreds music reviews and dozens of interviews on various worldwide websites and publications. He was chosen as "1999 Male pop CD of the Year" by Kweevaks Tracks (Now www.soundpress.net). He was also chosen as the "2003 UIMA Pop/Rock Artist of the Year". In June 2009, ReverbNation.com chose John Taglieri as a featured artist. He was also featured on Jagermusic.com as a music artist. He's been featured on the cover of several magazines and been interviewed or performed on several television shows.

Taglieri has been included in several books on music marketing throughout his career. Indie Music Marketing guru Bob Baker has included chapters about Taglieri in his books Branding Yourself Online and The Guerilla Music Marketing Handbook, as well as the The Guerilla Music Marketing Handbook Encore Edition due to Taglieri's success as an indie artist. Publicist and Cyber PR owner Ariel Hyatt has also included stories and mentions of Taglieri in her "Music Success In Nine Weeks" book series.

Sponsors

In 2000, Taglieri signed a deal with Ovation Guitars to accept him into the Ovation Artists Program and serve as an official sponsor. Throughout his career, Taglieri has only used Ovation acoustic guitars at his shows. He is also sponsored by Jagermeister, Marshall Amplification, Curt Mangan Strings, and In-Tune Guitar Picks.

Equipment

He uses a 1983 Fender Stratocaster Elite electric guitar, a Samick Valley Arts Pro model, and Ovation 6 and 12 string acoustic guitars. He owns a collection of guitars & amps including:

• 1964 Silvertone-Kay 1240 Archtop
• 1965 Harmony H1215 Archtop
• 1968 Silvertone Tiesco 26875 Hollowbody
• 1974 Premiere Custom Les Paul
• 1978 Ovation 1615 Pacemaker 12-string
• 1978 Fender F-75 Acoustic
• 1981 Ovation 1517 Glen Campbell
• 1983 Fender Stratocaster Elite
• 1986 Gagliano Classical
• 1997 Ibanez SR-401 Bass
• 1999 Samick SCM-1G Pro Valley Arts Model
• 2001 Ovation 1868 Elite
• 2001 Ovation CC-65 Nylon String
• 2003 Fender Squire Telecaster
• 2007 Gibson Les Paul Studio
• 2009 Epiphone Les Paul Jr.
• 2011 Ovation CC44
• 1997 Marshall JTM-60 Amp
• 1998 Fender M-80 Chorus Amp
• 2008 Vox AC30 Amp

Musical influences

Taglieri has claimed that Rik Emmett is one of his biggest influences on guitar and for vocals, and has also referenced Collin Raye for vocals, Steve Perry and the bands Journey, Boston, Foreigner, Survivor, and Triumph. He has cited an affinity for pure Album-oriented rock, including musicians popular in the 1980s such as Bon Jovi. Taglieri has also stated he is influenced by modern bands such as Third Eye Blind, Train, Matchbox 20, Edwin McCain, & Vertical Horizon, with Pat Monahan from Train being one of his favorite vocalists.

Personal life

Taglieri currently lives in his East Rutherford, NJ with his wife Laureen, their beagle Java and two cats Munchkin & Sammy.

Discography

• A Surge Of Existence (1988) - with Sneaks Noise
• Leap of Faith (1999)
• Half & Half (2003)
• NOW (2005)
• Wide Awake & Dreaming (2007)
• Everything We Are EP (2008)
• Lives EP (2009)
• Lives Volume II EP (2009)
• Forward (2010) - with TAG

External links

• John Taglieri on Yahoo! Music

Video

• Leap Dog Music on Youtube
• "Booty Call" Music Video

Music

• John Taglieri on iTunes
• John Taglieri on Last.fm
• John Taglieri on Rhapsody (US access only)
• John Taglieri on CD Baby