John Tesh
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John Tesh
| For The Record... |
| Born July 9, 1953, in Garden City, NY; married to Connie Selleca; children: Gib (stepson), Prima. Education: attended North Carolina State. Tesh began his media career as an anchor for a NYC CBS affiliate; became a sports commentator for CBS; co-hosted the syndicated Entertainment Tonight for ten years;composed background music for the 1992 Olympic Summer Games in Barcelona; composed and performed John Tesh: Live at Red Rocks and John Tesh: The Avalon Concert for PBS. Addresses: Agent—The Mitch Schneider Organization, 14724, Ventura Blvd., Suite 410, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403. |
Instrumentalist
Few musicians have had as many successful careers outside the music industry as John Tesh. An over-achiever in many aspects of his media career, Tesh has traded all that to devote his time to his dream, a full-time music career. Tesh’s music is instrumental—tagged by some as New Age—and grandiose, combining aspects of jazz, classical and rock music, while highlighting Tesh’s piano virtuosity.
Tesh began his music career composing music for sportcasts. When he was chosen to cover the Tour de France as a sports commentator for CBS, Tesh wrote music that accompanied the broadcast and viewers were wowed by his musical talents. He received so many requests for a recording of the music that he released it on his own and went on to sell 30,000 copies out of his garage. Tesh’s music career has grown immensely since those early days. Today he has his own production company, called John Tesh Productions, and his own record company called GTSP Records. The GTSP stands for Gib, his stepson, Tesh, Connie Selleca, his wife and their daughter Prima.
Tesh’s album Avalon was recorded as a live album and video. Performed on the beautiful Catalina Islands in Southern California, the album was inspired by time spent in Europe. Song titles and arrangements have a distinctive European influence; these include "Spanish Steps," "Venezia," and "Aquila." Avalon entered the New Age charts at number one and the video will be used as a PBS fundraiser.
Tesh’s music really came to the public’s attention when he released John Tesh: Live at Red Rocks in 1995. The project was funded by Tesh and was filmed with the intended use as a fund-raiser for PBS. But the event also produced a video and an album. Filmed at the scenic Red Rocks amphitheater, Tesh created a drama that featured a full orchestra and gymnastic performances. Although the filming was precarious, threatened by a rainstorm and unseasonable cold, the video was a smashing success. The performance was one of PBS’s most successful fundraisers and went on to earn Tesh a gold record as his debut solo album. His newest fundraising special for PBS is entitled John Tesh: The Avalon Concert was filmed in the gorgeous town of Avalon on Santa Catalina Island.
Tesh’s fans are thought to be primarily women, but Tesh tells Roger Catlin of the Hartford Courant that his concerts contain some of the excitement and drama of rock concerts. Tesh explained," Men are usually dragged there by theirwives, but they’re the ones who come back afterward and say, This is like a rock concert!’ There are tunes where we get literally out in the audience. I’m a
theatrical guy; I like that kind of thing. We carry a lighting rig as big as Lollapalooza. I feel that when they purchase a ticket to a show, it should be a show."
John Tesh is a household name, but not because of his musical talent. Rather, it is because of his ten-year run as co-host of the syndicated hit show Entertainment Tonight For years Tesh and Mary Hart hosted the show together and became celebrities themselves by reporting on celebrities in the entertainment industry. As co-host of the show, Tesh interviewed the greatest stars in Hollywood and even married a famous actress, Connie Selleca. The job was exciting and always brought Tesh into the epicenter of the Hollywood community, but few knew of his passion for music and his great talent.
Tesh’s music abilities became apparent when he accepted a job as commentator for the Olympics. He wrote background music for the athletic performances and released an album called The Games, which was used on the telecasts of the Barcelona Summer Games in 1992. Tesh began to juggle his growing music career with his full time job at Entertainment Tonight. Eventually, Tesh decided to end his long stay with ETand devote himself full time to music, enabling him to tour extensively and reach a wider audience.
Philanthropist and Family Man
Part of Tesh’s appeal as a television personality was his all-American good looks and friendly smile. Standing at 6’6," Tesh is large yet non-threatening. He seems to personify family values and religious morals. He is also considered an excellent role model for the public. During his engagement to his current wife Connie Selleca, it was widely publicized that the couple had taken a vow of chastity until the wedding night, despite their divorced status. The couple are born again Christians and have two children, Gib, from Selleca’s previous marriage, and Prima. Tesh’s devotion to his family is evident in his music, having written a trio of songs for his family. "Concetta" was written for Connie and performed for her on the night he proposed. For the children, Tesh wrote "In a Child’s Eyes" and "Song for Prima."
Tesh’s philanthropy extends beyond his well-publicized fundraising concerts for PBS. He firmly believes in the blessing of music and the right of all children to music education. As Tesh kicked off his world tour in the spring of 1997, he announced that one dollar from every ticket sold would be donated to a local elementary school’s music education program. Also, Tesh is working with the National Coalition for Music Education to arrange donations for musical instruments and music books for elementary schools. Tesh was presented with a Music for Life award in July 1997 to acknowledge his participation in raising funds for the musical education for children.
New Age Target
Despite Tesh’s apparent virtues he has become a favorite target of the media. Jay Leno in particular has enjoyed roasting Tesh in his monologues on the Tonight Show. Tesh is always a good sport and invited Leno to film a gag at one of his live shows. The show was filmed at a Tesh concert at Detroit’s Fox theater, which incidentally was being picketed by a Detroit rock band called Mog, who protest at all of Tesh’s Detroit performances, insisting that Tesh is an alien. The May 9th performance gag on the Tonight Show gave Tesh a chance to mock Leno before a national audience and prove that he can laugh at himself.
Newsweek’s Rick Marin responds to the public’s bashing of Tesh in his article called "The Teshing of America." Marin describes the music that has been dubbed "Tesh-music" as "elementary synthesized melodies embellished with grandiose chord progressions and superfluous pageantry." But Marin admits," Tesh would be an easier target if he weren’t so nice. He’s self-deprecating and surprisingly caustic for a born-again Christian. He admits that after three years of saccharine overexposure, he and his wife have a’nauseating’ image."
Selected discography
Albums on GTSP
Tour de France, 1987.
Garden City, 1989.
The Games, 1992.
A Romantic Christmas, 1992.
Ironman: Music from the Ironman Triathlon, 1992.
Winter Song, 1993.
Monterey Nights, 1993.
A Family Christmas, 1994.
John Tesh Live at Red Rocks, 1995.
Avalon, 1997.
Sources
Billboard, Marchi, 1997.
Detroit News, May 8, 1997; May 9, 1997.
Newsweek, April 3, 1995.
People, February 3, 1995; December 4, 1995.
Additional information for this profile was obtained from the Mitch Schneider Organization, 1997, and the Tonight Show airing on May 9, 1997 and Entertainment Tonight airing July 7, 1997.
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Artists:
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John Tesh
- Genres: New Age
Biography
For many years, John Tesh went virtually unrecognized as a musician and composer, instead enjoying television success as the co-host of the nightly showbiz news magazine Entertainment Tonight; while his initial attempts to mount a recording career were met with scorn and ridicule, he enjoyed the last laugh on his detractors, rising to become one of new age instrumental music's biggest superstars. Born July 9, 1952 in Long Island, New York, Tesh began playing piano at the age of six; as a teen, he also played organ and trombone with local rock bands. After graduating North Carolina State University with a degree in music and communications, Tesh worked at a progression of television stations throughout the southeastern U.S., later graduating to the position of anchor at the CBS network's New York City affiliate. In 1981, he joined CBS Sports as a commentator, where he later won Emmy Awards for his Pan American Games theme and the theme to the Tour de France.In 1986, Tesh left CBS to host the syndicated Entertainment Tonight with co-anchor Mary Hart; while television remained his primary focus, he continued writing and performing music, and in 1988 issued his first album, Tour de France. Critics panned his brand of melodramatic, orchestral new age music, but the success of further efforts including 1989's Garden City proved a growing audience existed for his work. In 1991, Tesh won another pair of Emmys for his music for NBC Sports' coverage of the World Track and Field Championships; a year later, he formed his own label, GTS, and issued Romantic Christmas, his biggest hit to date. Smashes including 1993's Monterey Nights and 1994's Sax by the Fire followed, and in 1995 Tesh's PBS special and album Live at Red Rocks emerged as something of a phenomenon. He soon left Entertainment Tonight to focus all of his energies on music, scoring successive hits with the likes of 1996's Sax on the Beach and its 1997 follow-up, Sax All Night. Grand Passion followed in early 1998, trailed a year later by One World and John Tesh & Friends. Pure Hymns was issued in fall 2000 and Pure Orchestra and Pure Gospel followed in early 2001.
Classical Music for Babies (And Their Moms), Vol. 2 appeared later that spring. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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John Tesh
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This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (August 2009) |
| John Tesh | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | John Frank Tesh |
| Born | July 9, 1952 |
| Origin | Garden City, New York, United States |
| Genres | New Age Pop Contemporary Christian Smooth Jazz |
| Occupations | Composer Recording artist Radio host News anchor Sportscaster |
| Instruments | Piano Keyboards |
| Years active | 1986–present |
| Associated acts | Yanni Connie Sellecca James Ingram |
| Website | Tesh.com |
John Frank Tesh (born July 9, 1952) is an American pianist and composer of pop music, as well as a radio host and television presenter. His 10-year-old 'Intelligence for Your Life Radio Show' reaches 14.2 Million listeners/week, and is syndicated by Teshmedia on 400 stations in US, Canada, and the UK. Tesh has won six music Emmys, has four gold albums, two Grammy nominations, and an Associated Press award for investigative journalism. Tesh has sold over eight million records. His live concerts have raised more than $20 million for PBS. His NBC Basketball Theme has been hailed as one of the top three sports themes of all time. He is also known as the longtime co-host of the television program Entertainment Tonight. He has previously worked as a sportscaster for the Olympic Games, a news anchor and a reporter.
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Contents
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Biography
Early years
Tesh was born in Garden City, New York, on Long Island, and graduated from Garden City High School in 1970. Playing piano and trumpet from the age of 6, he studied with teachers from The Juilliard School and was named to the New York State Symphonic Orchestra in high school, while also playing the organ in a rock band.[1] Tesh studied communications and music at North Carolina State University. While in the area, Tesh worked as a news anchor at WTVD in Durham, North Carolina. Tesh went to Orlando, Florida, to take a television position at WFTV.
Tesh has been married to actress Connie Sellecca since 1992. They have one daughter together named Prima.
Entertainment Tonight and television career
His television career included a stint as a news anchor and reporter at WSM-TV in Nashville, Tennessee in the 1970s, where he often covered the same stories as Oprah Winfrey, who worked at a competing Nashville station. He shuffled from Nashville to Raleigh, to Orlando, and finally to New York's WCBS-TV, where, at age 23, he was their youngest reporter.[1] He later hosted the television show Entertainment Tonight from 1986 to 1996.
Tesh also served as a sportscaster for events such as the Tour de France bicycle race from 1983 through 1986 (Tesh has the distinction of being the anchor for the first American broadcast of this event), and gymnastics at the 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics. He also provided coverage of numerous dog shows from 1995-1999.
Tesh hosted the "One on One with John Tesh" talk show in 1991-92 on NBC daytime, and co-hosted the show John & Leeza with fellow Entertainment Tonight personality Leeza Gibbons in the 1990s.
Tesh appeared in "The Icarus Factor," an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, playing a Klingon warrior.
Musical career
In 1987, Yanni was putting together his first touring band to promote his album Out of Silence, as well as selections from Keys to Imagination. Being good friends, Tesh asked Yanni if he could join the band as keyboardist along with Joyce Imbesi and drummer Charlie Adams, as he'd never been onstage for a live performance, and he needed the experience. Despite already having a full time job with Entertainment Tonight, and the long hours of rehearsal for the band, he did very well, although he did only one tour with Yanni, playing in about 12 shows, including the "1988 Concert Series," before being replaced by Bradley Joseph. Later, Yanni helped Tesh get his first recording contract with Private Music.[2]
In the 1990s, John Tesh was credited with the theme music to Bobby's World, hosted by Howie Mandel, and the NBA on NBC theme, known as "Roundball Rock." Tesh composed the NBA on NBC theme after an idea hit him while traveling. In order to recall his idea at a later juncture, Tesh recorded the initial beat on his answering machine, leaving a message for himself. The theme was used for the NBA on NBC before the network stopped carrying NBA games following the 2001-02 season, though NBC would revive the theme for its basketball coverage during the 2008 Summer Olympics.
In August 1994, John performed at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver, Colorado for his first Live at Red Rocks concert. Tesh performed with conductor John Bisharat and the 70-piece Colorado Symphony Orchestra. The concert featured Tesh playing grand piano, Charlie Bisharat playing electric violin, and Everette Harp playing alto saxophone. Also featured were Olympic gold medal-gymnasts Nadia Comaneci (1976) and Bart Conner (1984) performing gymnastic routines specially-choreographed to Tesh's music.
After Tesh left his 10-year job as co-host for Entertainment Tonight in 1996, he turned to his career as a contemporary keyboardist. This led to him starting The John Tesh Radio Show in 2003.
In 2008, he put out a piano gospel dance DVD called "Alive: Music & Dance." It combines Tesh's music, big gospel choirs, and hip-hop dance.[3]
John Tesh Radio Show
Tesh currently has a nationally-syndicated radio show called the John Tesh Radio Show, which typically airs on Adult Contemporary and Classic Hits radio stations, which plays Teen-oriented Soft rock (music, or music selected by an affiliate station themselves), interspersed with various factoids and other information Tesh considers useful to listeners, often with topics such as health and well-being. These factoids are called "Intelligence for Your Life." It is played on radio stations across the United States and Canada. "This show was created for my wife, (actress Connie Sellecca)," he says. "She's one of those people where, you look at her side of the bed (and see) seven issues of Prevention magazine and five months of Oprah magazine . . . (she) never has time to read any of that stuff . . . I feel there's enough entertainment there - nobody needs to know the latest in the trial of Anna Nicole Smith from us, or who the celebrity birthdays are. So I said, ‘Let's just do something that moves people forward in their life, and we'll do the work for them.'" According to Tesh, the show now airs on about 250 stations nationwide, primarily on adult contemporary music stations, but is carried on some classic hits stations as well; select pieces of "Intelligence for Your Life" are broken up and distributed in short form to other radio stations (including talk radio formats) as well, for use on morning shows.
The show was originally syndicated by Westwood One under the name On the Air with John Tesh, albeit with a slightly-different format. It is currently self-syndicated.
Awards
In 2007, Tesh won the Syndicated Personality/Show of the Year award by Radio & Records magazine for his radio show. Other finalists included Delilah, Blair Garner, Steve Harvey, Kidd Kraddick, and The Lia Show.[4] Tesh was nominated in 2003 for the Grammy for "Best Pop Instrumental Album" for Power of Love. John has also earned three gold albums, six Emmys for his sports themes, and a Keyboard Magazine Award.[5]
Alien Rumor
For years a group has claimed Tesh is an alien who is using his music to communicate with his home planet, whose inhabitants are preparing for a full-scale invasion of Earth. Evidence includes the fact he hosted "E.T." and reportedly has magical properties. Groups purporting this have shown up consistently to his shows, demanding he acknowledge this.This has obviously been discounted by the singer.[6]
Discography
- (1987) Music from the Tour de France, Vol. I - Tesh Music BMI
- (1988) A Thousand Summers
- (1988) Tour de France - Private Music
- (1989) Garden City- Cypress
- (1989) You Break It - Atlantic Records
- (1990) Tour de France - The Early Years - Private Music
- (1992) A Romantic Christmas - Decca Records
- (1992) Ironman Triathlon - GTSP
- (1992) The Games - GTSP
- (1993) Monterey Nights - Decca Records
- (1994) A Family Christmas - Decca Records
- (1994) Sax by the Fire - Decca Records
- (1994) Winter Song - Decca Records
- (1995) Music in the Key of Love - GTSP
- (1995) Backstage with John Tesh - Digital Entertainment
- (1995) Live at Red Rocks - Decca Records
- (1995) Sax on the Beach - Decca Records
- (1995) Anthology
- (1996) Discovery - Decca Records
- (1996) Choirs of Christmas, featuring Rock Theatre, Paulist Boy Choristers of California, Encore Children's Chorus - GTSP
- (1997) Avalon - Decca Records
- (1997) Sax All Night - Decca Records
- (1998) Grand Passion - Decca Records
- (1998) Guitar by the Fire - Decca Records
- (1998) Songs from the Road - BMG Special Products
- (1998) Pure Movies - GTSP
- (1999) One World - Decca Records
- (1999) John Tesh & Friends - Columbia River
- (1999) One Day - Unison
- (2000) Pure Movies, Vol. 2 - Garden City Music
- (2000) Pure Hymns - Faith M.D.
- (2001) Classical Music for an Intimate Mood - Garden City Music
- (2001) Pure Orchestra - Garden City Music
- (2001) Classical Music for a Stress-Free World - Garden City
- (2001) Pure Gospel - Faith M.D.
- (2001) Classical Music for Babies (And Their Moms), Vol. 1 - Garden City
- (2001) Classical Music for Babies (And Their Moms), Vol. 2 - Garden City
- (2001) Classical Music for a Prayerful Mood - Faith M.D.
- (2002) The Power of Love - Garden City Music
- (2002) Christmas Worship - Word Entertainment
- (2002) A Deeper Faith - Garden City
- (2003) Worship Collection: Awesome God - Garden City Music
- (2003) A Deeper Faith, Vol. 2 - Garden City Music
- (2004) Worship at Red Rocks (live) - Garden City Music
- God of Wonders - Word Entertainment
- Drive Time Intelligence CD
- Grand Piano Christmas
- Heart of the Sunrise
- John Tesh - Romantic Christmas Collection
- John Tesh - Ultimate Christmas Collection
- The Power of Prayer and Worship
- Ultimate Love Song Collection
- Victory
Videography
- John Tesh - Monterey Nights
- John Tesh - Live at Red Rocks
- John Tesh - The Avalon Concert
- John Tesh - One World
- John Tesh - Christmas in Positano
- John Tesh - Alive: Music & Dance
References
- ^ a b Bio at Crossmap.com
- ^ Yanni; Rensin, David (2002). Yanni in Words. Miramax Books. pp. 123, 202. ISBN 1-4013-5194-8.
- ^ John Tesh Finds His Groove. NewsMax.com, March 15, 2007.
- ^ "2007 Industry Achievement Awards". Radio and Records. September 28, 2008. http://www.radioandrecords.com/Conventions/con2007/awards/indexFinal.asp.
- ^ "About John". Official John Tesh Website. http://www.tesh.com/ittrium/visit?path=A1x97x1y1xa5x1x76y1x3e70x1x65y1x40fx1x65. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
- ^ The song John Tesh by Norton's Imperial Guard parodies claim. SUNDAY NYT: OCTOBER 5, 1997: QUESTIONS FOR:; John Tesh Published: October 05, 1997[1]
External links
- Official site
- John Tesh's FACEBOOK PAGE
- John Tesh at Allmusic
- John Tesh at Allmovie
- John Tesh at the Internet Movie Database
- John Tesh at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
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Mentioned in
Forever More: The Greatest Hits of John Tesh
(2000 Album by John Tesh)
Dave Black
(New Age Artist, 2000s)
John Tesh: Alive - Music & Dance
(2008 Music Film)
Live at Red Rocks
(1995 Album by John Tesh)
John Tesh: Worship at Red Rocks
(2004 Music Film)
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