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A young pop singer gets some top-flight musical backing for a concert in Fairfield
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By Sean Spillane
STAFF WRITER
Young pop singer Nicollette Varanelli has no roots in Fairfield County, but her show Friday night at the Fairfield Theatre Company's StageOne will certainly have the feel of a homecoming concert.
The 19-year-old with the big voice has joined forces with some talented musicians from the region as she looks to make her name in the music business and she is glad to have them along for the ride.
Especially since a few of the musicians know what it takes to succeed.
Trumbull resident Al Ferrante, a guitarist, might be the ideal sideman for Varanelli, having previously worked with female pop singers Cyndi Lauper and Debbie Gibson, as well as with The Edgar Winter Group.
"And he taught John Mayer how to play guitar, too, at his shop in Fairfield," Varanelli was quick to add. "I think that's so cool."
Ferrante owns and still teaches at the Fairfield Guitar Center and did indeed instruct a teen-aged Mayer at the now-closed Professional Music Center in Fairfield. Mayer even thanked Ferrante in the liner notes of his 2001 debut album, Room for Squares.
The man responsible for rounding up the players to back Varanelli is Tim DiScipio, who was in the local bands Those Melvins and Big Train, which both enjoyed a modicum of success in the '90s.
"Tim is in charge of the band, getting all the people, and he's been great at it," Varanelli said. "My father, Joe -- who's my manager -- found him through MySpace and it was a blessing meeting him because he's really helping out."
Other band members are singer Victoria Clamp, a longtime member of the Fairfield-based Tom Tom Club; bassist George Bates, who has played with Jamaican-born reggae singer Mystic Bowie, now of Bridgeport; drummer Brian Sokol of Easton; and keyboardist Bill Vivino from New Jersey.
"They all know a lot about it, the music business," Varanelli said, "so it's really cool to surround myself with those kinds of people."
They will all be very necessary as Varanelli goes about pursuing her music career, something she has been thinking about her whole life while growing up in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
"I've been [singing] since I was 5," she said. "I've known I wanted to do it since I was a little girl. It was always my dream."
Varanelli has had a few major performances in the past, but they were opportunities to sing the "Star Spangled Banner" before events at Madison Square Garden and Shea Stadium in New York and at a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game.
Now, the people that come to her shows will be there to hear her music, like at recent shows she and her band played at The Annex in New York City.
"There's a lot of excitement and I love doing them," Varanelli said of the club dates. "My adrenaline goes up and I'm just so excited. It's so much fun for me.
"And the band is great, so I feel comfortable up there."
Varanelli does have a self-released CD for sale through her MySpace page, MySpace.com/nicollettesings, with most of the proceeds going to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.
"I just like to give back to people that are less fortunate," she said. "It's a good thing to do."
For her next project, Varanelli has her sights set on landing a record deal with a major label and the wheels are already in motion.
She has been in the studio with successful producers and has drawn the interest of Casablanca Records.
"It's all fun and it's hard work, but it will pay off," she said.
Nicollette Varanelli performs Friday night at 7:30 at StageOne at the Fairfield Theatre Company, 70 Sanford St., Fairfield. Illusionist David Martin and singer-songwriter Nick Harrison are the opening acts. Tickets are $22, $17 for FTC members, and are available by phone at
259-1036 or online at www.fairfieldtheatre.org.