Gino Vannelli

Biography

Gino Vannelli (born June 16, 1952) is a Canadian rock/jazz/fusion/pop vocalist, producer, performer and Hall of Fame songwriter (inducted on October 17, 2025). He produced several commercially successful songs in the 1970s and 1980s. His best-known singles include "People Gotta Move" (1974), "I Just Wanna Stop×I Just Wanna StopSeptember 1978 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAI Just Wanna Stop3:37BThe Surest Things Can Change4:35" (1978), "Living Inside Myself" (1981) and "Wild Horses×Wild Horses1987 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracksAWild Horses (extended remix)6:20B1Shape Me Like a Man4:48B2Wild Horses (remix single version)4:30" (1987). He has a loyal international fan base and has been featured on albums and stages around the world for over five decades.

Career

Vannelli was born to an Italian family in Montreal, Quebec. His father, (Joseph) 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. Buddy Rich later covered Vannelli's songs "Storm At Sunup×Storm at Sunup1975 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracksA1Storm at Sunup6:37A2Love Me Now3:44A3Mama Coco3:06A4Father and Son3:13B1Where Am I Going7:47B2Keep On Walking3:49B3Love Is a Night3:51B4Gettin’ High3:25" and "Love Me Now" on his album Speak No Evil.
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×Crazy Life1973 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracksA1Crazy Life2:51A2Hollywood Holiday2:57A3There’s No Time2:56A4Fling of Mine2:20A5Granny Goodbye2:21B1Great Lake Canoe2:52B2Cherizar3:05B3One Woman Lover2:26B4Piano Song1:55, in the summer of 1973.
Vannelli was one of the first white artists (Dennis Coffey being the very first in January 1972) 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×Powerful People1974 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracksA1People Gotta Move3:21A2Lady3:43A3Son of a New York Gun3:23A4Jack Miraculous2:42A5Jo Jo3:40B1Powerful People6:12B2Felicia3:04B3The Work Verse2:54B4Poor Happy Jimmy3:50, which contained his first major hit, “People Gotta Move”.

Vannelli released an album, The Gist of the Gemini×The Gist of the Gemini1976 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracksA1Love of My Life4:30A2Ugly Man3:54A3A New Fix for ’763:32A4Omens of Love4:31A5Fly Into This Night3:27B1Prelude to the War4:32B2The Battle Cry1:52B3To the War4:34B4Carnal Question2:36B5After the Last Battle2:04B6To the War (Reflection)2:02B7Summers of My Life4:28, in 1976 through A&M Records.
Pauper in Paradise (A&M 1977) was an ambitious cocktail of prog rock fusion, jazz and symphonic sounds. The complex album featured the London Philharmonic Symphony and explored themes of war and love.
His 1978 album Brother to Brother×Brother to Brother5 September 1978 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracksA1Appaloosa4:44A2The River Must Flow3:48A3I Just Wanna Stop3:37A4Love & Emotion3:49A5Feel Like Flying5:17B1Brother to Brother7:16B2Wheels of Life4:14B3The Evil Eye4:14B4People I Belong To4:01, also with A&M, produced the single "I Just Wanna Stop×I Just Wanna StopSeptember 1978 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAI Just Wanna Stop3:37BThe Surest Things Can Change4:35", which reached No. 4 on the Billboard magazine chart, No. 1 in Canada, and received a Grammy Award nomination. His next album, Nightwalker×NightwalkerMarch 1981 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracksA1Nightwalker5:09A2Seek and You Will Find4:40A3Put the Weight on My Shoulders4:45A4I Believe4:11B1Santa Rosa4:07B2Living Inside Myself4:23B3Stay With Me4:43B4Sally (She Says the Sweetest Things)4:30, 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.
Despite the success of singles "Black Cars×Black Cars1984 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracks1Black Cars3:092The Other Man3:403It's Over3:414Here She Comes3:205Hurts to Be in Love3:436Total Stranger4:557Just a Motion Away4:188Imagination3:109How Much3:53" and "Hurts to Be in Love" (1985), from his album Black Cars, as well as "Wild Horses×Wild Horses1987 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracksAWild Horses (extended remix)6:20B1Shape Me Like a Man4:48B2Wild Horses (remix single version)4:30" (1987) from the album Big Dreamers Never Sleep×Big Dreamers Never Sleep1987 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracks1In the Name of Money3:552Time Out4:393Wild Horses4:414Young Lover3:235Down With Love4:276Persona Non Grata4:187Something Tells Me4:248Shape Me Like a Man4:529King for a Day4:31, Vannelli only appeared live sporadically throughout the 1980s. He has described himself as going on a spiritual journey during this time.
Departing from the jazz-pop idiom, Vannelli released two mostly acoustic jazz discs, Yonder Tree (1995) and Slow Love (1997). After producing the album Hitek Hiku for Danish jazz pianist Niels Lan Doky, Vannelli revisited his interest in western classical music with the song "Parole Per Mio Padre" (Words For My Father), dedicated to his late father, and composed in the style and tradition of Schubert. The recording came to the attention of Pope John Paul II who requested a performance of the song at the Vatican. Televised in Europe, the event caught the attention of the head of BMG Records who subsequently asked Vannelli to record a contemporary classical disc in the style of "Parole per Mio Padre". Canto, released by BMG in 2003, features songs sung in English, Italian, Spanish, and French, and is considered by fans and Vannelli himself to be one of his strongest musical accomplishments. In 2008, Vannelli became a symbol of sorts for the National Basketball Association championship run by the Boston Celtics. After each blowout home victory during the 2008 season, the video crew at the TD Banknorth Garden played a clip from Dick Clark's American Bandstand that featured a bearded disco dancer clad in a tight Gino Vannelli T-shirt. The tradition became known in Boston as "Gino Time" and Gino T-shirts became common at Celtics games. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2008 that the dancer in the Vannelli shirt was a young man named Joseph R. Massoni, and that he had died of pneumonia in 1990. He was 34 years old.
"People Gotta Move" became a small hit again in the Netherlands in 2008 after this song was used in a commercial on TV and radio of the ANWB (Dutch road assistance).
On May 13, 2014, Vannelli's Live in L.A. CD/DVD compilation was released by the Sono Recording Group. The presentation was recorded live onstage at the historic Saban Theater in Los Angeles on November 8, 2013, which represented Vannelli's first performance in Los Angeles in more than 15 years. The recording also marks the first on-stage collaboration in many years between the three Vannelli brothers (including Ross Vannelli as producer, editor, and mixer).
Vannelli resides in Troutdale, Oregon, where he is active as a music teacher. He continues to perform throughout North America and Europe.

Awards and honors

Grammy Award nomination, "I Just Wanna Stop×I Just Wanna StopSeptember 1978 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAI Just Wanna Stop3:37BThe Surest Things Can Change4:35", 1978
Juno Award, Best Male Artist, 1976, 1979
Juno Award, Recording Engineer of the Year, with Joe Vannelli, 1986, 1987, 1991
"Wild Horses×Wild Horses1987 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracksAWild Horses (extended remix)6:20B1Shape Me Like a Man4:48B2Wild Horses (remix single version)4:30", 1987, Best Video, Best Song