I bring classic pop and rock hits from the 60s to 80s to life with vocals and keyboards. From Sinatra to Elton John to Billy Joel...Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, Chicago, The Rolling Stones, Springsteen and, of course, The Beatles.

Personal History

In August 1969, at age 8, I was at sleep-away camp in the Catskill Mountains and was just a little over one mile away from Woodstock and heard some of the music from the iconic festival.

It was a helluva way to get introduced to classic pop and rock. And, as a journalist, I met and interviewed three of the four Woodstock producers for various pieces in what was The SullivanTimes in conjunction with the 50th anniversary.

At age 10, in the early 70s, I was singing to the 45s of The Jackson 5 and The Partridge Family, among others, and even got to perform live with my best friend at school carnivals and events in elementary school. Although I loved performing, it would be decades later before I sang on stage again.

Fast forward to the 2000s when I began the journey of learning piano. Once I memorized chords, I started reading lead sheets and soon found the joy of playing a few hundred songs that still echoed in my head from the 60s through the 80s.

Early in my life, I was inspired greatly by my late great aunt, Evelyn Danzig, who played piano and composed the hit, Scarlet Ribbons, and worked closely with Harry Belafonte on that and other projects. My father, Robert, was the biggest influence on my taste, introducing me to jazz, big band, crooners and rock and roll from an early age through early adulthood. And, he had a pretty good influence himself: he met and became close friends with Eddie Fisher in the late 1940s before he became a star.

Today, I soak up as much as I can about vocal techiques and study the great performers, like Sinatra, Neil Diamond, Mick Jagger, Freddie Mercury and Robert Plant and expanding my setlist for a variety of audiences. Most recently, my wife and I visited the childhood homes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney and did a British music tour of Liverpool and London. That was an amazing education about the very humble beginning of many of my musical heroes.

January 2026 at Strawberry Field and the piano that John Lennon used to compose and record "Imagine."

photo by scott Palermo