About Gino Vannelli
Gino Vannelli is a Canadian rock singer and songwriter who had several hit songs in the 1970s and 1980s. His best-known singles include "People Gotta Move" , "I Just Wanna Stop" , "Living Inside Myself" and "Wild Horses" .
Vannelli was born to an Italian family in Montreal, Quebec. His father, Russ Vannelli, sang with the Montreal dance bands of trumpeters Bix Belair and Maynard Ferguson. His early ambition was to be a drummer. He admired Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich, and he played drums in a pop band while he was in high school. In 1969, at the age of seventeen, he signed a contract with RCA Records, using the name Vann Elli. He studied music theory at McGill University in Montreal.
Vannelli and his brother, Joe, moved to Los Angeles in 1972. Desperate and broke, they waited for hours in the parking lot outside A&M Studios, hoping to get a record deal. When Herb Alpert, the co-owner of A&M Records, finally emerged, Vannelli ran toward him and gave him a demo tape while being chased by security guards. Alpert signed Vannelli and released his debut album, Crazy Life, in the summer of 1973.
Vannelli was one of the first Caucasians to appear on the television dance program Soul Train. In 1974, he was invited to tour with Stevie Wonder. That same year, he released his second album, Powerful People, which contained his first major hit, “People Gotta Move”.
Vannelli released an album, The Gist of the Gemini, in 1976 through A&M Records. His 1978 album Brother to Brother, also with A&M, produced the single "I Just Wanna Stop", which reached No. 4 on the Billboard magazine chart, No. 1 in Canada, and received a Grammy Award nomination. His next album, Nightwalker, also produced a top ten hit, "Living Inside Myself".
He received the Juno Award for Most Promising Male Vocalist in 1975. In 1976, and in 1979, he received the Juno Award for Best Male Vocalist. He and his brother Joe, his musical partner during those years, shared the Juno Award for Best Production for Brother to Brother in 1979.
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