Gringo's collaborate with Rascals & daughter Aria Cavaliere
ARIA AND THE GRINGOS, from left to right: Matt McCalvin, Peter Furgiuele, Aria Cavaliere, Nick Furgiuele and Pete DeLorenzo (photo by Rachel Bired)
Producer and engineer Robert Honablue has a resume that includes working with such little known artists as Led Zeppelin, Miles Davis, Barbra Streisand, Dave Brubeck, Aretha Franklin, Santana and Bob Marley. Now he can add Atlanta’s Gringo Star to that list.
While busking on a street corner in New York City in the summer of 2004, three-fourths of Gringo Star (Nick and Peter Furgiuele and Matt McCalvin) where strumming through the Sam Cooke song, "Send Me." The group was playing to earn enough money to pay for the many toll bridges in the area. Their ramshackle rendition of Cooke’s song caught the attention of one passerby who happened to be Aria Cavaliere. She’s the daughter of songwriter and former Rascals organ player Felix Cavaliere who is best known for penning the songs, “Groovin' On A Sunday Afternoon” and “Good Love.”
One party and several performances later, Gringo Star has became Aria’s de facto backing band. “We've been friends ever since and we would usually get together to jam when we were passing through New York on tour,” Nick says.
In January Cavaliere moved from New York back to her original hometown of Nashville, Tenn., which makes weekend musical rendezvous much more convenient.
Over the years their collaborations have yielded a handful of songs that culminated with a self-released CD, titled Aria and the Gringos.
The songs on the disc were recorded by Honablue at Royal Blue Studios in Brooklyn in February of 2007. Although a CD release party was held at The Mercury Lounge in New York on July 16th of 2007, the disc hasn’t started circulating until this month.
To hear songs from Aria and the Gringos, click here
Aria and the Gringos track list:
"Uh-Oh" (Cavaliere)
"Mad" (P. Furgiuele / N. Furgiuele)
"Silly Boys" (Cavaliere)
"You're the One"(P. Furgiuele)
"Tell Me" (P. Furgiuele / N. Furgiuele)