Blues Saraceno (born October 17, 1971 in Hartford, Connecticut) is an American rock guitarist, composer, and music producer who currently resides in Los Angeles California. Saraceno was discovered by Guitar for the Practicing Musician magazine, at the age of 16, which assisted him in releasing instrumental recordings on an independent basis. Saraceno's high profile as a gifted guitar virtuoso and musician opened the doors to an early career as a first call guitar sideman and session musician. Saraceno is most often recognized from his time playing w/Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker (Cream) as well as his brief tenure with the band Poison. Saraceno's early success in the music industry would eventually blossom into a career in producing and composing for television and film.
Early life
As a child he was surrounded by music (both parents played instruments) and often credits this for his initial interest in becoming a professional musician. He started to play guitar at the age of nine, but didn't take it seriously until the age of thirteen, when a fall from a go cart resulted in a broken elbow. Saraceno asked the doctor to position the cast so that he could remove it from his sling and practice guitar during his recovery period. He has often commented on how his lack of musical lessons contributed to his highly stylized sound. Saraceno moved to Los Angeles when he was nineteen in order to further his career.
Career
One week after Saraceno's 16th birthday his professional career started when his then manager sent a demo tape to Michael Bolton who decided to enlist Blues' guitar skills on a Cher song. That late night session which included songwriter Desmond Child resulted in a release on Cher's "Heart of Stone" record. Word quickly spread and other producers soon followed suit. A demo tape that was originally intended to secure a guitar endorsement ended up in the hands of "Guitar for the Practicing Musician," magazine which had been searching for a full year to find the right artist to launch their new record label. Upon hearing his tape, Blues was offered the record deal, and his first instrumental solo record (Never Look Back) was released to critical acclaim.
The success of that album landed him an audition with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker (Cream) in New York City. Despite blowing the amp up during the audition, Saraceno was offered the gig. After two successful US tours Saraceno was quickly becoming referred to as the "kid that replaced Eric Clapton". After another year of overseas touring, Baker departed and was replaced by Simon Phillips (Who, Toto) and eventually Gary Husband (Level 42). Saraceno continued to release two other solo albums (Plaid, Hairpick), as well as further his reputation as a top call session guitarist, landing many high profile equipment endorsements.
In 1994 Saraceno left Jack Bruce to fill in as lead guitarist and songwriter for the band Poison after guitarist Richie Kotzen was fired. After a short overseas tour, Saraceno's playing was recorded for the Poison album Crack a Smile. However, due to a regime change at the label, the record was temporarily shelved by Capitol Records. Saraceno left the group amicably and was replaced by the band's original guitarist, C.C. DeVille. The album was later released under the name Crack a Smile... And More, and includes fifteen tracks recorded by Saraceno and five songs taken from the band's old recordings featuring DeVille.
Upon his departure from Poison a chance encounter with the VP of advertising for Fox television (who was a fan of Blues' earlier instrumental work) introduced him to the professional world of television and Film. Working both onscreen and off, Saraceno found that the opportunity to put his own spin on the music, that would get directly distributed into households around the world, to be both challenging and rewarding.
In 2000, he founded the band Transmission OK, which served as a platform to showcase his lead vocal abilities and songwriting skills as well as demonstrate a lot of the recording techniques that he had picked up over the years of doing sessions. Transmission OK offered the opportunity for Blues to step out from under the "guitar hero' moniker and started his venture into the world of record producing. Transmission OK was signed to Beyond Records (Blondie, Mötley Crüe) and Distributed by BMG. After a brief US tour, and lackluster support from the label, the group disbanded allowing Saraceno to focus his efforts on Television and Film work as well as production and sessions. Saraceno's session work has ranged from Ziggy Marley (Dragonfly) to Melissa Ethridge (Lucky) and he has earned a reputation for being a "go-to guy" for many of Los Angeles' top record producers and engineers. Saraceno has also produced for artists such as, Scott Caan (Oceans 11, Dallas 362), Eric Balfour (24, Chainsaw Massacre) of Fredalba, Lindsay Price (Beverly Hills 90210, Lipstick Jungle, Eastwick) and Anthony Michael Hall (Deadzone).
Saraceno's greatest success has come in the field of television and film. Blues' television work credits include CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, Disney, Discovery, UPN, MTV, MTV 2, VH1, USA, TLC, Comedy Central, Telemundo, SCI FI, SPIKE, E! and BRAVO. A more detailed list can be found on his website (www.bluessaraceno.com). He has commented on how it is not uncommon to have multiple commercials running in multiple countries throughout the world, all at the same time and using the same piece of music.
Discography
Solo
With Cher
With Taylor Dayne
With Kingdom Come
With Poison
With Ziggy Marley
With Melissa Ethridge
With Gorgeous George
With Transmission OK
- The Sky, The Stars And The Great Beyond... (2000)
Other
- The Sound Of Nascar by Various Artists (2005) *he contributes 3 songs to the "Nascar Racing" arcade game
Trivia
- Blues is his real name.
- At 17 years of age Blues was invited by guitar legend Les Paul (R.I.P.) to come and jam @ Fat Tuesdays nightclub in New York City.
- The "Plaid" Converse Chuck Taylor line of sneakers went into production after the product manager from converse saw a pair of custom made sneakers that was being constructed in their custom shop for Saraceno (to match his main Plaid guitar). Converse extended their gratitude with a very generous amount of sneakers but no royalty.
- Saraceno's first signature guitar was released by Yamaha. The Yamaha RGZ 820R had a basic Strat shape and featured a green plaid paint job on the front.
- Saraceno's second signature guitar series was released by Samick. This series offered multiple models, the TV twenty, Radio Ten and the Twango. This series featured a number of different finishes ranging from multi colored burst's (the "creamsicle" series) to various Plaid designs as well as multiple solid colors. The "Twango" series was an electric/acoustic model.
- Saraceno had a signature set of guitar strings available from the company Dean Markley which featured his name and photo on the package. This set featured the string gages 10-38 (which were the gages that he played during his formative guitar years). Saraceno is currently known for using Ernie Ball Strings exclusively.
- Saraceno currently has his own model guitar pickup (PATB3) available from Seymour Duncan Pickups.
References
External links
