Joe Cerisano, (born March 28, 1951), is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and President of Outta' the Woods Records. He is often referred to as "possibly the most famous anonymous singer in America".[citation needed]
Early life
As a teenager, Cerisano began performing professionally at the age of 14, and sang with a succession of regional bands in the north central West Virginia area, including Elderberry Jak. He later moved to New Jersey and then to California. While in California in 1980, he and guitarist Earl Slick formed the rock band Silver Condor under the Columbia Records label. Silver Condor had the Top 40 hit "You Could Take My Heart Away" in 1981.
Early career
In the late 70's Joe Cerisano and his gutiarist/co leader Lee Fink had one of the top original groups in a sea of cover bands in the New Jersey rock club scene. R-Band drew large crowds just because of their original songs which was unheard at the time. Playing 7 night a week took it's toll on the band so in Dec 1979 after a call from Earls Slick Joe left the band for California. Six months later Silver Condor was born playing all the songs that were written for R-Band. After the Silver Condor / Columbia Records fiasco Joe returned to NYC in 1884.
In the mid 1980's, Cerisano's music career began to evolve into his becoming one of the most successful studio session singers in the United States.[citation needed] His commercial work in television and radio singing includes spots for Coca-Cola, Chrysler/Plymouth, General Electric, Miller Beer, the United States Army, the United States Navy and numerous others.
During this period, Cerisano also did backing vocals on several albums by Michael Bolton, and he was the singer of the 1986 song "Hands Across America". The video was featured on MTV and still is being played on Pop-up Video and VH1.
On their Imaginos album, Blue Öyster Cult featured Cerisano as the lead singer for the song, "The Siege and Investiture of Baron von Frankenstein's Castle at Weisseria". He and Gloria Estefan appeared together on the soundtrack of the 1988 musical, Goya; A Life in Song. And in 1998, Cerisano was one of the lead vocalists chosen by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra to be featured on their album, The Christmas Attic.
Cerisano sang backup for the rock band Korn in November 1999, as they introduced their new album, Issues. A concert was staged live in New York City at the Apollo Theatre. Broadcast of this event was carried on more than 100 radio stations around the world, as part of the album's global debut.[citation needed]
In April 2000, Cerisano appeared on West Virginia Mountain Stage at Fairmont State College in Fairmont, West Virginia. Other invited guests on stage that evening included Eric Weissberg, who performed with Cerisano. Mary Black, Mick Moloney, Dee Carstensen and Dave Mallett also entertained the audience. The live performance was taped and later broadcast.
Many other renowned artists have also called upon Cerisano's talent during the span of his career; Felix Cavaliere, Richie Havens, Ian Hunter, Mick Ronson and Jack Scarangella are just a few of them.[citation needed]
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