Leonard Charles "Lee" Curreri (born January 4, 1961) is an American actor and musician, most known for his work in the film, '' Fame'' (1980) and its television spinoff, '' Fame'' (1982–1987).

Life and work

Curreri was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, in the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, and attended high school at

Fordham Preparatory School Fordham Preparatory School (also known as Fordham Prep) is an American private, Jesuit, boys' college-preparatory school located on the Rose Hill campus of Fordham University in the Bronx, New York City. From its founding in 1841 until 1970, t ...

. He also attended the

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory in New York City. The school offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition, as well as a bachelor's in mu ...

. Curreri played the role of Bruno Martelli, the keyboard maven, in the film '' Fame'' and also in its spinoff TV series, also called ''Fame''. He obtained the role in the movie after auditioning in New York City. He has also appeared on an episode of ''The New Love American Style''. He played piano with In Vitro, and the Iona College Singers. He is a songwriter and has worked with a number of performers, including

Natalie Cole Natalie Maria Cole (February 6, 1950 – December 31, 2015) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She was the daughter of American singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole. She rose to success in the mid-1970s as an R&B singer with the h ...

and

Phil Perry Philip Eugene Perry (born January 12, 1952) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, musician and a former member of the soul group, The Montclairs, from 1971 to 1975. He was also known for performing the opening song to Disney’s sitcom, '' Goof ...

. In December 2008, he appeared on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

's '' Bring Back...'' series when Justin Lee Colins managed to get some of the original television series cast members together. He released a CD, ''Aquabox'', which has a booklet on the inside containing pictures of one of Curreri's sons, Joey, shortly before his son was born (a pre-birth picture contained in the leaflet).

Partial filmography

* '' Fame'' (1980) - Bruno * ''Crystal Heart'' (1986) - Christopher Newley

Soundtracks

* '' The Deep and Dreamless Sleep'' (2006) – with Peter Freeman and

Jeff Rona Jeffrey Carl "Jeff" Rona (born March 3, 1957) is an American composer for film. He was a member of Hans Zimmer's '' MediaVentures''. His credits include ''Sharkwater'', ''Traffic'', ''God of War III'', '' Phantom'' and '' Veeram''. Jeff Rona ...

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Curreri, Lee American male film actors American male television actors American people of Italian descent 1961 births Living people Male actors from New York City Entertainers from the Bronx 20th-century American pianists American male pianists 21st-century American pianists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians Fordham Preparatory School alumni

Life and work

Partial filmography

Soundtracks

See also

References

External links