Roger Rossi (born 1940) is an American

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

accompanist Accompaniment is the part (music), musical part which provides the rhythmic and/or harmony (music), harmonic support for the melody or main themes of a song or instrumental piece. There are many different styles and types of accompaniment in ...

vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

bandleader A bandleader is the leader of a music group such as a rock or pop band or jazz quartet. The term is most commonly used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or ...

, published author and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

born Roger Rossitto, in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. He is the son of concert violinist Vincent Rossitto, who graduated from th
Royal Conservatory of Bellini
in

Palermo, Sicily Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its hi ...

and performed on many of the great stages of Italy including

Teatro Massimo The Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele is an opera house and opera company located on the Piazza Verdi in Palermo, Sicily. It was dedicated to King Victor Emanuel II. It is the biggest in Italy, and one of the largest of Europe (at the time of its i ...

Musician

Rossi attended

Amityville Memorial High School Amityville Memorial High School is a public high school located in Amityville, New York, United States, on the south shore of Long Island. It is part of the Amityville Union Free School District, which includes the village of Amityville and porti ...

Amityville, New York Amityville () is a Political subdivisions of New York State#Village, village near the Babylon (town), New York, Town of Babylon in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, on the South Shore (Long Island), South Shore of Long Island, in New Yo ...

and was elected "''Class Musician''". He first studied piano under Mary Findley Ades of

Brightwaters, New York Brightwaters is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the southwestern part of the Islip, New York, Town of Islip in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, on Long Island, in New York (state), New York, United States. The po ...

and later under James Ball, Professor of Piano Studies at

Crane School of Music The Crane School of Music is located in Potsdam, New York, and is one of three schools which make up the State University of New York (SUNY) at Potsdam. Crane consists of approximately 630 undergraduate and 30 graduate students and a faculty o ...

Potsdam, New York Potsdam ( moh, Tsi tewate’nehtararénies) is a town in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States. The town population was 14,901 at the 2020 census. The ZIP Code is 13676. When SUNY Potsdam and Clarkson University are in session, the popul ...

. For years Rossi was piano accompanist and music director for Canadian recording artist Tommy Desmond, and later for

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

artist Gene Stridel. He was on staff for Ultrasonic Recording Studios in New York where he played on several hit recordings including

The Shangri-Las The Shangri-Las were an American pop girl group of the 1960s. Between 1964 and 1966 several hit songs of theirs documented teen tragedies and melodramas. They continue to be known for their hits "Remember (Walking in the Sand)", "Give Him a Gre ...

No. 1 ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' hit “

Leader of the Pack "Leader of the Pack" is a song written by George "Shadow" Morton, Jeff Barry, and Ellie Greenwich. It was a number one pop hit in 1964 for the American girl group the Shangri-Las. The single is one of the group's best known songs as well as a ...

”. Throughout his 50-plus years as a musician, he's performed a wide variety of music throughout Canada, New York, and New England. In Florida he was the

in the main dining room of the 5-star Boca Raton Hotel & Club for almost 4 years; and Resident Pianist at St. Paul of the Cross Catholic Church,

Singer Island Singer Island is a peninsula on the Atlantic coast of Palm Beach County, Florida, in the South Florida metropolitan area. Most of it is in the city of Riviera Beach, but the town of Palm Beach Shores occupies its southern tip. Its latitude of ...

for 15 years. Roger Rossi is a Past President of Rotary International Club of

Wellington, Florida Wellington is a village just west of West Palm Beach in Palm Beach County and north of Miami. As of 2019, the city had a population of 65,398 according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, making it the most populous village in the state. It is the ...

where he received the Spirit of Rotary Award and Paul Harris Fellowship.

Author

In 2000, Roger Rossi authored ''From The Piano Bench: Memorable Moments With Mobsters, Moguls, Movie Stars and More''. The book contains 70 very interesting short stories about his encounters with many famous and notorious people throughout his music career, including:

Liberace Władziu Valentino Liberace (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987) was an American pianist, singer, and actor. A child prodigy born in Wisconsin to parents of Italian and Polish origin, he enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, recordi ...

, John F. Kennedy, Jr.,

Princess Diana Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...

Perry Como Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an Italian-American singer, actor and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, after signing ...

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his birth ...

Vic Damone Vic Damone (born Vito Rocco Farinola; June 12, 1928 – February 11, 2018) was an American traditional pop and big band singer and actor. He was best known for his performances of songs such as the number one hit " You're Breaking My Heart", an ...

Johnny Mathis John Royce Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standard music, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum s ...

Joe Louis Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed the Brown Bomber, Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He rei ...

Rocky Graziano Thomas Rocco Barbella (January 1, 1919 – May 22, 1990), better known as Rocky Graziano, was an American professional boxer and actor who held the World Middleweight title. Graziano is considered one of the greatest knockout artists in boxing hi ...

Rodney Dangerfield Rodney Dangerfield (born Jacob Rodney Cohen; November 22, 1921 – October 5, 2004) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, screenwriter, and producer. He was known for his self-deprecating one-liner humor, his catchphrase "I don't get no resp ...

Jack Nicklaus Jack William Nicklaus (born January 21, 1940), nicknamed The Golden Bear, is a retired American professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest go ...

Itzhak Perlman Itzhak Perlman ( he, יצחק פרלמן; born August 31, 1945) is an Israeli-American violinist widely considered one of the greatest violinists in the world. Perlman has performed worldwide and throughout the United States, in venues that hav ...

Evel Knievel Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel (; October 17, 1938 – November 30, 2007) was an American stunt performer and entertainer. Over the course of his career, he attempted more than 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps. Knievel was inducted into the Motor ...

, and

Shelley Winters Shelley Winters (born Shirley Schrift; August 18, 1920 – January 14, 2006) was an American actress whose career spanned seven decades. She appeared in numerous films. She won Academy Awards for ''The Diary of Anne Frank'' (1959) and ''A Patch o ...

Composer

In 2005, Roger Rossi composed his version of Ave Maria after it came to him in a dream. The piece follows the same concept as many other Ave Marias in that it's a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

translation of the Hail Mary prayer calling for the intercession of Mary, the

mother of Jesus Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

. However, Rossi's version differs from most others because it includes additional lyrics to that prayer's text. In a world greatly troubled with wars, terrorism, immorality, greed and selfishness, Rossi felt compelled to ask for divine guidance. His

addendum An addendum or appendix, in general, is an addition required to be made to a document by its author subsequent to its printing or publication. It comes from the gerundive , plural , "that which is to be added," from (, compare with memorandum, ...

states, “''Sancta Maria, beata et casta, ora pro nobis; adiuva nos; egemus tua caritate.''” In English it means: “''Holy Mary, blessed and pure, pray for us; help us; we need your love.''” In 2007, the Vero Beach Choral Society performed

Hawley Ades Hawley Ades was an American choral arranger, born in Wichita, Kansas on June 25, 1908. He died March 26, 2008, at the age of 99, three months shy of his 100th birthday. He was the son of two professional musicians; choral director Lucius Ades, a ...

’ choral arrangement of Rossi's Ave Maria, with Dr. Marcos D. Flores

conducting Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary duti ...

what was billed ''The World Premiere''. In 2008, soprano Melissa Rowell Charles Calello's symphonic orchestration of Rossi's Ave Maria. In 2009, internationally acclaimed operatic sopran
Susan Neves
sang Rossi's Ave Maria with the composer (Rossi) at the piano in a .

Family

Married: to Sylvia Ann Lacey a/k/a Sal from 1960 to present
Children: Bonny West, Roger Rossitto, Lisa Vinson
Grandchildren: Bradley West, Jesslee, Katrina Colletti, Camryn West, Andrea Colletti, Tori Auer

References

External links

Website for Roger Rossi Music
* *
"From The Piano Bench: Memorable Moments With Mobsters, Moguls, Movie Stars and More" at Amazon.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rossi, Roger Musicians from Brooklyn American male composers 20th-century American composers 1940 births Living people People from Amityville, New York 20th-century American pianists American male pianists 21st-century American pianists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians