NMR ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Vocal Duet DeLissana
NMR ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Vocal Duet DeLissana
What inspires your music? What
is your story?
Since we are sisters, our
first inspiration was during our childhood when we LOVED and continually sang
and performed together. Our mom, an
accomplished opera singer, her brother a doctor of music, our aunt another
doctor of music, and cousins are all either musicians, singers or dancers. It is in our blood. Diana, a classically trained musician (a College of Wooster Grad
with a Degree in Music & Vocal Performance) played the piano, and
accompanied Elissa's many instrumental, vocal and dance solos. We both studied
piano under the late, great concert pianist Marianne Mastics. Our childhood living room was our very first
"stage" as we amused ourselves for hours performing along with
recordings and television variety shows. Little did we know that through the years, and
summers performing at The Cleveland Playhouse, Oberlin College Summer Opera
Theatre (Elissa was accepted at the age of 9, and Diana accepted as a teen),
and Cleveland Institute of Music opera productions, we’d develop our own unique
interpretive style.
As life would have it, and the years passed, we
never thought we would be performing professionally. However, about 6 years ago, we sang 3 songs
at a wedding, including The Prayer. When
we sang our last note, the entire congregation stopped the wedding ceremony by
standing up and giving us a standing ovation!
After the ceremony, about 50 people came up to us and asked where they
could purchase our CD. Now, we were
quite surprised (deer in headlights) at that request, since we thought of
ourselves as simply sisters singing at a wedding. That’s when we realized and said to
ourselves, “I guess people like us! And maybe we should pursue our singing
further!”
And as luck would have it,
Elissa’s friend’s husband, Pablo “Chino” Nunez, (JanMar Productions, Inc.)
happened to be a Grammy Award Winning music producer, musician and
arranger. When he heard that we sang, he
wanted to hear us for himself. After listening
to our rendition of The Prayer on-line,
he asked us to come down to his recording studio in West Palm Beach. He wanted to meet us and hear us live. Chino was interested in producing our debut
album. So we hopped on a plane and flew
down to audition for him. We stood in
front of him in his office from 10 in the morning until
about 4 in the afternoon singing practically every song we knew. He just sat in his chair and listened. When
we sang The Prayer, he had tears in his eyes.
He was blown away. He said our
harmonies (since we are siblings) are unbelievably tight, and we sound like the
same person. He could not tell who was
singing which part! He was so inspired,
that he wrote an arrangement of The Prayer just for us to record on our
album.
He signed us to a record deal on the spot, but
the catch was…we would have to write 5 original songs for our album. Needless to say, the thought was a little
daunting, but very exciting! So, on the plane while flying back home to
Cleveland, we wrote the lyrics to “Daddy Hold My Hand”, the first track on our
Album (Embrace Abrazo Abbraccio). (The
album title is the word Embrace in English, Spanish and Italian). “Daddy Hold My Hand” (video: https://youtu.be/Qi1jyExMgJ0) is about our father who passed away at the age
of 48. Dad was our biggest fan, so he
was a huge inspiration. Our first public
performance had our audience in tears by the time we got to the refrain. What a feeling!
After we wrote “Daddy Hold My Hand”, the flood
gates opened! We couldn’t stop writing, and Christmas Garland (“Merry
Christmas” in 6 languages with 2 simultaneous melodies) was the love child of
Diana. Elissa thought, “What a great
idea!”. The languages wrap around the
world, just as garland wraps around a Christmas tree. Then, we decided to
produce a music video, and Elissa added, “We should wear the clothes native to
the countries we represent in the song: United States, Italy, Spain, Germany,
Serbia and France!”
DeLissana have a fun time in this quirky Christmas Music Video
After recording our album, Chino, a Grammy Board
Member, felt it was worthy of submitting to The National Academy of Recording
Arts and Sciences (NARAS) for a shot at a Grammy. We were
voted onto the Grammy Pre-nomination list right out of the gate!
What makes your music extraordinary and different?
The fact that we are sisters (a family act) is different. Since we are
siblings, (mature; not 20 years old also makes us unique), our voices blend
perfectly. Given that our precision is
one of our huge strengths, we could be singing 100 feet apart, and we will have
the identical inflection and be at the exact same place in our music. We read each other so well.
After having the opportunity to perform at
various venues, we feel strongly that there is an audience for us. We are always received well, since appealing
to all ages has been our experience. Kids have danced in the aisles, and couples have
danced the jitter bug during our rendition of Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. It is apparent to our audiences that we are
having a ball while performing together.
We have a knack for making our audiences laugh!
What are your plans for the upcoming year?
We are
always researching and looking for new opportunities and gigs, and are
currently in the process of exploring the idea of performing for House Concerts
as well. We are fearless and will sing for anyone. We
are not kids, so we are focused on our passion.
"Like so many musicians, we run into roadblocks every day,
but we are not
giving up."
To have our songs placed in a
movie, or in a television commercial or series would be a dream come true. And a European tour is definitely on our
bucket list. We saw Il Divo’s televised
concert in Spain, and were awestruck. We
looked at each other and said, “We can do that! We are good enough!”
One of our true honors has been performing for
our Military. As singers/ musical
directors of The Patriot Tour, we were deeply honored to have performed in the
fabulous variety shows for our brave service men and women and first
responders. In addition, we were asked
to appear at a benefit for our fallen police officers and first responders at
the Improv Comedy Club in Downtown Cleveland. Performing in The Patriot Tour for our United
States Marines at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina (February 2012) to benefit
"Hope For the Warriors" was humbling and a dream come true. Singing "The National Anthem" at
several Cleveland Indians games has been an amazing opportunity as well! We have performed coast to coast: in December
Nights in San Diego's beautiful Balboa Park, at Cleveland's New Orleans
Showboat, Barton Center in Lakewood, The Funny Stop Comedy Club in Akron for
the U.S. Marines, Prime at Anthe's Lounge in Akron, Becky's Bistro in
Willoughby Hills, Festa Italiana in beautiful Cuyahoga Falls, Angelo's Nido
Italia Restaurante in Cleveland's Little Italy, the Lake County Rotary Ball
Charity Auction and as featured guest performers for other events.
MORE ABOUT DeLissana
Embrace Abrazo Abbraccio – Album tracks and
photos:
Daddy Hold My
Hand (original, emotional song about Dad): https://youtu.be/Qi1jyExMgJ0
Unchained
Melody (cover in Italian “Senza Catene”):
https://youtu.be/BXEtnOie61I
The Prayer (cover in English and Italian): https://youtu.be/tZnkD-akg4A
Are you for real? (original about finding love
later in life): https://youtu.be/TZC8uZuk108
Cruising
For Bruising (cover): https://youtu.be/5NlLgxc4IvQ
Christmas Garland (original holiday song): https://youtu.be/oPwiPSre53o
Ti
Ameró (cover of Italian love song): https://youtu.be/oanGmWGta8s
Nights in White Satin (cover in Italian): https://youtu.be/8F_wYJacSxQ
Unbreak
My Heart (cover in Spanish): https://youtu.be/5tcTn_h3Ukw
I Fall
to Pieces (cover): https://youtu.be/CyUyWrdo74k
Life is
Good (original about positive attitudes): https://youtu.be/sG-1cPqq13o
Si Tú
Me Amas (cover Spanish love/dance song):
https://youtu.be/9lbrloBAMTk
Life
Goes On (original about overcoming life’s hardships): https://youtu.be/4m9R4tv0CU0
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