Charlie Dominici
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Charlie Dominici is a singer, best known as the first vocalist for the progressive metal band Dream Theater, having replaced Chris Collins (while the band was called Majesty) and later being replaced by James LaBrie.
His singing style is considered by some to be quite similar to that of Rush's Geddy Lee or Mike Reno of Loverboy.
Charlie originally came into prominence as a member of Franke and the Knockouts, in which he played guitar and sang backing vocals. He auditioned for Dream Theater in 1987 and was hired for the job in November of that year.
Charlie performed on the band's debut album, 1989's When Dream and Day Unite. However, Dominici was older than the rest of the band and there were personal and creative differences at work. It was felt that, despite being a very talented singer, his decidedly "pop" vocal style did not fit in with the distinctive progressive direction that the band's compositions were taking. According to Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, "It was like having Billy Joel singing in Queensrÿche." A good singer in the wrong band, they amicably parted ways shortly thereafter.
Charlie remained in contact with Dream Theater throughout their career, despite lapsing out of the music business and obtaining a job as a finance manager in the automobile business. Charlie was hired by Mike Portnoy to sing at his wedding to Marlene Apuzzo. Charlie started working on an album with his brother, guitarist Kane Daily that never saw the light of day. In 2003 he released a song on his website entitled "Now The Time Has Come" but it was taken down after a few months, and the track did not feature any guitars, only piano.
Charlie's voice was also heard on the YtseJam Records release "When Dream And Day Unite Demos" which featured pre-production and vocal demos of several songs, as well as Charlie singing Beatles Covers and the traditional Christmas song O Holy Night.
On March 6th, 2004, Charlie joined his former bandmates onstage in Los Angeles for the first time in 15 years for a special performance celebrating the 15th anniversary of the band's first album. After the band performed the entire album, they began playing "To Live Forever" a non-album track that was written in the same time period, and singer James LaBrie announced Charlie, who sang most of the song. The band then launched into "Metropolis" which was also written in that time period, with Charlie and James singing a duet, and also being joined by former keyboardist Derek Sherinian. This performance was later released by YtseJamRecords on CD and DVD versions entitled "When Dream And Day Reunite". The DVD version also features footage from the band's 1989 tour with Charlie of each song, as well as documentary footage. Despite having not actively sung since leaving Dream Theater in 1989, this performance gave him the itch to make music again and in 2005, he released a solo album entitled O3: A Trilogy, Part 1, the first album of what will be a three-album concept piece about a terrorist sleeper agent in the United States that falls in love with the country, and discovers that the biological weapon he is creating could destroy the entire world[citation needed].Charlie has now inked a deal for a worldwide release on the "InsideOut Music" label for his second installment of the trilogy, O3: A Trilogy, Part 2 and is slated for release in February 2007. This CD is promising to be much heavier and progressive as it has been recorded with a full band this time, entitled Dominici.
Contents |
[edit] Discography
[edit] Solo albums
[edit] With Franke and the Knockouts
- Franke & Knockouts (1981)
[edit] With Dream Theater
- When Dream and Day Unite (1989)
- When Dream And Day Unite Demos (2004)
- When Dream And Day Reunite (CD and DVD) (2005)
