User:Les Portelli
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Les Portelli is a Canadian Composer/Musician/Producer born on the island of Malta on November 13, 1971. The Portelli family moved to Toronto, Canada 6 months later where they eventually settled. Les was introduced to music at the tender age of 4. Classical and Rock were the preferred choices of music in the Portelli household. His mother, Carmen was a 60's rocker and his father, Charles was a classical music buff. Les began studying piano at age 5 and proceeded to study at the renowned Royal Conservatory of Music over the next 7 years.
During his teenage years, he played in various rock bands and at the age of 18, he enrolled in the jazz program at Humber College. His stay at the college was relatively short, he was whisked away by local guitar player Brian Hughes to go on the road with his newly forming band. Brian had already released his first LP (Between Dusk...And Dreaming') at the time but needed a replacement piano player for the group. Les eventually would play on Brian's next 5 recordings and become an integral part of the group.
In the meanwhile, Les established himself as one of the country's top players, performing with the likes of Canadian Jazz giants such as Pat Labarbera, Barry Romberg, Shelly Berger, Phil Dwyer, Mark Kelso, Perry White among many others. He has performed on numerous records by local artists including Shelly Berger, Barry Romberg etc..as well as writing music for other performers.
In 2000, Les and his wife (Ana Rossini)moved to Los Angeles to pursue their music work. It was in the city of angels that Les took an interest in production. He quickly became involved in the underground HipHop scene and struck up an instant connection with local L.A. m.c./rapper Fate. Together they spent the next two years writing and modifying their sound to produce the independent "In The Hands of Fate" CD. The music rapidly received attention from the HipHop/R&B community, some good, some mixed. Nonetheless, it was a remarkable debut and the duo is currently working on their next LP.
Les also worked with his wife in the early days producing and playing on a 5 song EP of traditional Brasilian music. Together they played venues throughout Canada and the U.S. and are currently working on their debut pop record. Les and Ana subsequently moved back to Toronto in 2006 to spend time with their famalies. "Los Angeles will always be in my heart, I've worked there since I was 19, but being close to home and Sunday dinners at the folks place, hard to beat! But seriously, we have so many friends and projects cooking in L.A. that we couldn't leave there even if we wanted to. Toronto is my home, but Southern California is my heart!"
