MIKE VISAGGIO - Keyboards and vocals
MIKE VISAGGIO is a 54-year-old multi-keyboardist, composer and
vocalist living in Richmond, VA, USA.
He began playing at age 9, and at 16 joined his first band, Lights of
Darkness, in Queens NY. Subsequently he played in rock bands in
the New York area, forming a progressive rock/jazz-fusion group in 1970
called Randori with bassist Tom DiCarlo, that endured until 1975.
That group recorded in Media Sound Studio with Bob Walters executive
producer, but failed to land a record deal. During these years Mike
attended Queens College in Flushing (NYC) and majored in music.
In 1975 Mike joined up with singer-songwriter Billy Falcon and bass
guitarist Ed Gagliardi (who went on to star with Foreigner) and recorded
three LP's and an EP with Billy Falcon's Burning Rose between 1975
and 1981. That band recorded in Blue Rock Studio and MCA Studios in New York, and in London at world famous Olympic Studio with producer of the Rolling Stones and Traffic, Jimmy Miller. Mike also played with first-rank New York show band Sound City Orchestra with lifelong friend Bill DiLiberto from 1980 to 1985, doubling chores by holding down the bass with his left hand. He found real Christianity in 1978 and his perspective on
life would never be the same. When he and Falcon parted company late in 1981 he
joined a Christian rock group called Innervision, and later played
with another Christian group, The Ambassadors, in 1985, both in New York.
Mike can be seen on the cover of the "Billy Falcon's Burning Rose" LP
at www.BillyFalcon.com.
A period of almost twenty years intervened during which Mike was
out of music supporting his family driving 18-wheelers all over America.
After his first marriage ended he resumed his passion for
music in 2000. Three bands came and went (including The
Strokers, with whom he recorded a CD in 2003) and in 2005 he decided to produce
and record a solo CD, to be named "Starship Universe." It blends
classic rock, prog rock, and new age styles with subtle Christian lyrical
themes. Many more of Mike's compositions wait to be recorded.
Mike plays a five-keyboard setup and specializes in the Hammond B-3
sound. His influences are the great prog rock acts of the 70's like Yes, Genesis, Asia and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. He is fluent and comfortable in most
musical styles but excels in classic rock, prog rock, blues and some
jazz idioms. He also has a love for baroque pipe organ music deriving
from his studies with Professor Paul Maynard at Queens College.
Mike continues to reside in Richmond with his wife Eugenia. He may be reached online at bigroad3@gmail.com, or on this website at miketheorganist@mikevisaggio.com, and is
available for about any kind of musical project. He may be found on
Myspace at www.myspace.com/MikeVisaggio.