Stan Fortuna

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The Reverend Stan Fortuna, C.F.R. is a Roman Catholic priest notable for his evangelical musical contributions of various genres, primarily Catholic-based jazz and hip hop.

Father Stan preaching

He is an American citizen of Italian and Greek heritage. His lifelong interest in music began in the second grade when he received an electric guitar for Christmas. He spent his formative years playing improvisational sessions in and around New York City. Father Stan studied, at one point, with the legendary jazz musician, Lennie Tristano, and was an accomplished, professional bass player before becoming a priest.

He is one of the eight original members of the Community of Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, a Franciscan order established by John Cardinal O'Connor in 1987. Father Stan was ordained as a priest in the Bronx in the year 1990.

Reverend Fortuna established the non-profit Francesco Productions in 1987 as a means to record and distribute evangelical music, video productions and books as well as handle his speaking and concert engagements with all proceeds benefiting the Community's work with the poor of the South Bronx where he still lives. Recently FILO, Francesco International Love Outreach, was started to assist with his work with the poverty-stricken abroad including the underprivileged in Uganda and Poland.

An international speaker in great demand, Reverend Fortuna has been a featured speaker at numerous Franciscan youth conferences like LaSalle and has numerous appearances to his credit on the EWTN program, Life on the Rock. He frequently performs and lectures in the USA and countries in Europe and Africa. His work and music have garnered him write-ups in a number of publications including the US hip hop magazine XXL, in the New York Press and he has also appeared on Entertainment Tonight Canada and MuchMusic's "Popoganda".

Reverend Fortuna has released over 18 CD's in a variety of musical genres including his latest rap CD "Sacro Song 3: The Completion of the Trilogy". He has also released a jazz CD through Universal Music with his trio, Scola Tristano. He has written two books "U Got 2 Believe" and "U Got 2 Pray" published by OSV.

Currently, there is a documentary in post-production on his life and work entitled "Sent". He is also writing his third inspirational book "U Got 2 Love" to be released in the fall of 2008.

Father Stan during performance

Among his most memorable songs are "Everybody Got 2 Suffer" and "Cell 91" from the album Sacro Song II.

He is busy preaching and doing concerts around the United States, Canada, Africa and Europe; in July he will travel to Australia to perform at World Youth Day 2008. He will be one of the headline acts at the Goodstock Festival 2008 in Livonia, Michigan. In May 2008 he visited Victoria BC (Canada) as the keynote speaker at their Diocesan Youth Conference. After wowing the crowd there with his freestyle rapping and energetic talks he flew home for a day before traveling to Poland to do concerts there.