Charles Calello
Charlie Calello is an American, singer, composer, conductor, arranger, accordionist and record producer born in Newark, New Jersey.
Calello attended Newark Arts High School.[1] and Manhattan School of Music, in New York City.
In the late 1950s, Calello was a member of Frankie Valli's group The Four Lovers, but left before the group was transformed into The Four Seasons. In 1962, he became the newly rechristened group's arranger. In 1965, he joined the Four Seasons' lineup as bassist, temporarily replacing Nick Massi (who was Calello's replacement in The Four Lovers five years earlier) until a permanent replacement could be found. After recruiting Joe Long to succeed him as the bassist, Calello departed completely from the group, becoming a staff arranger/producer at Columbia Records. In 1968, he became an independent producer and arranger and a year later arranged Frank Sinatra's Watertown (album) written by Bob Gaudio and Jake Holmes.
He has worked with such diverse artists as Nancy Sinatra, Roberto Carlos, Frank Sinatra, Neil Diamond, Al Kooper, Bruce Springsteen, Laura Nyro, Barbra Streisand, Engelbert Humperdinck, Ray Charles, Bobby Vinton, Janis Ian, Barry Manilow, Juice Newton, and many others.
Calello has had over 100 Billboard chart records, 38 of which have been top 10. In 1979 he had his own hit record with a disco version of "Sing, Sing, Sing".[2]
In 1992 he became principal arranger and assistant conductor of the Florida Symphonic Pops in Boca Raton, which is now called the Sunshine Pops Orchestra.
References
- ↑ A Brief History, Newark Arts High School. Accessed August 10, 2008.
- ↑ "Charles Calello > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles". All Music. Retrieved 2009-09-03.
