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http://www.accordions.com/news.aspx?d=15-Sep-2017&lang=de&s=13496
http://www.accordions.com/news.aspx?d=15-Sep-2017&lang=de&s=13496
15-Sep-2017
by Rob Howard
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 Accordionist Tony Lovello, often referred to as ‘The Liberace of the accordion’, who lived in Lexington, Kentucky, was a natural showman and one of the most brilliant players of modern times. His dynamic performances – including his trademark bellows shake - were much anticipated and admired wherever he performed throughout the USA and beyond.During his long career Tony Lovello worked with many famous names in show business, including Red Skelton, Abbott and Costello, Dinah Shore, Eddie Cantor, Jimmy Durante, Scatman Crothers, Debbie Reynolds, Pat Boone, and Frank Sinatra. Tony was born in New York in 1932, and began to play accordion in 1937, but initially suffered from the prejudice that the instrument’s players sometimes encounter: "People always made fun of you. Especially in school, when the accordion case looked like an accordion. They would remark 'Here comes the Polka King' and the like. I hated the accordion, but I didn't want to break my father's heart, so I took it up and kept going." He kept at the accordion, and was ‘discovered’ in Los Angeles at the age of 12 by Eddie Cantor. By the time he was called up to serve in the US Army during the Korean War in 1950, Tony Lovello was enjoying a successful career in music, which he resumed after discharge. He performed on the Arthur Godfrey TV Show, then joined the Three Suns, with whom he recorded and toured extensively for several years. By the end of the 1960s, following an illness that left him deaf in the left ear, he opted for a change of career and worked in the hotel business, managing the Campbell House Inn In Kentucky until retiring in 2000. In 2000 Tony Lovello went back to performing and quickly became a frequent and popular high profile guest at accordion festivals and clubs around the USA, where he gave concerts and led workshops. More recently he also used skype for giving private lessons. Scottish accordionist commented: “Tony Lovello once took my accordion from Leavenworth to Las Vegas through a monster forest fire with flames on both sides of the road ....he said to me in las Vegas , that had his car broken down , he would have grabbed both his and my accordion and ran through the flames ....I believe he would have!” Tony Lovello, a family man and grandfather, passed away on September 3rd 2017, and was widely mourned by the accordion fraternity. He is survived by his wife Jo Ellen, four daughters, eight grandchildren, five 5 great grandchildren, and three great-great grandchildren. He is also survived by one brother Joe (Dianne) Lovullo, sister-in law, Grace Lovullo and numerous nieces and nephews. |