Freddy Curci

Freddy Curci
Genres Rock
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter
Instruments Vocal, Guitar, Keyboards, Drums, 12-string acoustic guitar, bass guitar, organ, piano
Years active 1979  present
Labels EMI, Frontier
Associated acts Sheriff, Alias, Zion
Website freddycurci.com

Federico "Freddy" Curci is a Canadian album-oriented rock vocalist and songwriter. He was lead singer for the band Sheriff and later founded and became frontman for the band Alias, a position he retains to this day.

Curci's vocals earned the Sheriff song "When I'm with You" the Number 1 spot in 1989 and the Alias power ballad "More Than Words Can Say" the Number 2 spot in 1990 on the Billboard charts.

BMI presented Curci with the Million-airs award for "More Than Words Can Say." According to BMI’s web site, only 1,500 songs have achieved Million-air status (one million air plays) among the 4.5 million songs by 300,000 BMI represented artists. One million performances is the equivalent of approximately 50,000 broadcast hours, or more than 5.7 years of continuous airplay.

In January 2009, Alias announced the release of their long delayed second album. This album titled Never Say Never sat unreleased for 18 years. The second album was recorded in 1992 to follow Alias's debut album, but it was never released due to the rapidly evolving music scene of that time where Grunge was the new rage and metal was out. A few of the songs from this “lost” album were re-recorded and appeared on Curci’s solo album Dreamer’s Road, but the rest remained unreleased. Some live performances are expected in 2009 in support of this new album release, but tour dates and band member lineup are yet to be announced.[1]

Curci is one of the few rock vocalists with multi-octave singing ranges able to hit high notes without resorting to falsetto.

Early influences

Of Italian descent, Curci grew up in Toronto, Canada. At an early age Curci listened mostly to classical opera music. He started listening to Black Sabbath and other rock music in his teenage years. Aside from opera music, some of Curci's musical influences were Lou Gramm of Foreigner and Tom Johnston of the The Doobie Brothers.[2]

Before Sheriff, Curci performed in Italian wedding bands in Toronto.[3]

Songwriting career

As a Billboard top 10 hit songwriter, Curci co-wrote with his Sheriff and Alias bandmate Steve DeMarchi the Number 2 hit song "More Than Words Can Say", and the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks Number 18 hit song “Haunted Heart." He also co-wrote most of the songs on the Alias album, his solo album Dreamer’s Road and the Zion album.

Curci is also a songwriter for the motion picture industry. In 2007, Curci’s songs were featured in several episodes of Army Wives, the most-watched series premiere in the 23 year history of the Lifetime Network. Curci was the primary composer for the sitcom Two Guys and a Girl (2000–2001), and also wrote the title theme.

In addition to DeMarchi, accomplished writers Curci has collaborated with include Brett Walker; Jeff Paris; Romina Arena; Jason Hook; his wife, Lara Cody; F. Grossi; Donny Hackett and Douglas Vallance.

Discography

Sheriff

Alias

Solo album

Compilation album

Zion

Who's Your Daddy!

Singles with Alias

Year Song US Hot 100 US MSR US A.C. UK Singles Album
1990 "More Than Words Can Say" 2 - 5 - Alias
1990 "Haunted Heart" - 18 - -
1991 "Waiting for Love" 13 - 17 87
1991 "Perfect World" 90 - - - Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead Soundtrack

Filmography

Footnotes

Citations

  1. More information can be found at the official ALIAS Myspace profile.
  2. Information about Curci, mindspring.com
  3. Video interview of Freddy Curci, www.freddycurci.com.
  4. http://www.whosyourdaddymusic.com www.whosyourdaddymusic.com
  5. http://www.whosyourdaddymusic.com www.whosyourdaddymusic.com

References

External links