Good morning folks !
Born and raised in Hoboken, NJ, I played wiffle ball on the corners of 10th and Garden. We were also rockin’ to bands like KISS and Led Zepplin and dancin’ to the funky beats of KC & the Sunshine Band and the Jackson 5. In 1980, my mom moved us to the nearby suburban town of Clifton, NJ, where my new friends turned me on to hard rock bands like Black Sabbath, AC/DC and Van Halen as well as more progressive bands like Yes and Rush.
It wasn’t long before my new hippie-style high school friends in Clifton started taking me to CSN and Grateful Dead concerts, at which time my taste in music drastically changed. I also became a huge jazz fan around 1984; and once I turned 17, me and my buddy Chris Cardillo hit some of the NYC jazz clubs such as the Village Vanguard and Sweet Basil.
Upon entering high school, I almost immediately joined my first rock band with friends Chris Cardillo and Jim Farley. The band became known as “Open Doors”, and then my younger brother, Chris, joined as the drummer. We played everything from Van Halen to the Grateful Dead. In my last year of high I hooked up with Dominic Doyle, Neil Huber and Jimmy Russo to form an original and cover band called “Daybreak”.
I soon went onto college at Rutgers University in Newark, NJ, where I completed a degree in computer science (yup I know, “why not music” you’re thinking?). Yet I spent a lot of my spare time taking jazz piano lessons while waiting tables on the weekends.
During this time (the year was 1988), we lost our dad to a massive heart-attack. During this tragedy, with God’s peace upon me, I continued to seek the Lord in my life until he found a spirit-filled church in Newark, NJ. I surrendered to God at this church and proclaimed Jesus as Lord and Savior of his life.
After serving eight years during the nineties as piano player/singer, I took up songwriting again and began to pursue a serious part-time career in music. After finally recording my 2000 debut CD entitled “My life is in Your hands” (my cousin Al Silvestri recorded me in Brooklyn), I put together my own band and started playing my music live at local churches coffee and houses.
After several years of praying and searching for the right musicians, God answered my prayers. As a result, I collaborated with a new team of musicians and godly men. Then in January, 2003, the band became officially known as “Smashing Idols”. Our new sound got a modern, hard rock edge, with lyrics that left no doubt as to who we were singing about. It was all about showing Jesus to others through our music. – and boy a lot of fun!
Smashing Idols went on to perform in various venues between 2003 and 2006. In 2005 we hooked up with an additional lead guitarist by the name of Sammy Verano. We continued playing together in 2006 until the final Idols performance in March at the Xpression Cafe, hosted by the Living Word Community Church in Dumont, NJ. Since then Bob, John, Rich, Paul and Sammy departed ways in order to honor their own family, church and full time job commitments. To this day you’ll find each one of them involved in music ministry at their own local churches spread out over northern New Jersey. For me, I’m married and together raising we continue to raise two beautiful boys, as we also serve at our local church in Nutley, NJ.