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Diana Grasselli – Bio
Having arrived in the Twin Cities by way of New York, Paris, Los Angeles and Miami, Diana Grasselli has lent her shimmery sound to major recording artists such as Dionne Warwick, Luther Vandross, Cher, John Waite, Bonnie Tyler, Alice Cooper, Belinda Carlysle, Phoebe Snow, G.E. Smith, The Smithereens, Chynna Phillips, Bonnie Spector, Paul Stanley, Meatloaf, Desmond Child and Prudence Johnson. Ms. Grasselli recorded two albums for Capitol Records with the popular East Coast recording group, Desmond Child and Rouge. Their Top 50 Single, “Our Love Is Insane”, with its funky bass beat and Diana’s soaring lead vocal rocked the air waves and dance floors throughout the East Coast. After a successful national tour and appearances on several contemporary television shows including Saturday Night Live!, Diana appeared with Rouge members, Maria Vidal and Myriam Valle in the hit Broadway show, Gilda Radner - Live From New York at the Wintergarden Theatre, where Diana and Rouge sang and performed comedy sketches with Gilda and cast. The show was adapted to film by director, Mike Nichols and titled, Gilda Live!, and is a now a regular on The Comedy Channel. She has appeared as a backing vocalist on Late Night with David Letterman and on several film sound tracks, including Disney Pictures, Sister Act. Diana has performed with some of the Twin Cities’ top artists including Prudence Johnson, Gary Rue, Michelle Kinney, Jacqueline Ferrier-Ultan, Jelloslave, Tony Axtell, Chris Lomheim and Laura Caviani at the Southern Theatre, Acadia, Nautilus Music Theater, and many others.
She has appeared in the Women of Substance Series at O’Shaunnessy Auditorium with Prudence Johnson, Gary Rue, Laura Caviani, Joan Griffin and Michelle Kinney in A Girl Named Vincent, and at the Southern Theatre in the Kurt Weill and Berthold Brecht inspired, The Last Days Of Weimar with Prudence Johnson and Ari Hauptman.
As a composer of original music, Diana has written hundreds of songs, has collaborated with many talented writers and has had several successes including a gold-selling single in the Far East for Vaze Publishing and has offered songwriting classes through her Vocal Studio, Chanson Voice Studios in Minneapolis. With her poetic alternative music ensemble, Vaze, Diana is writing, performing and recording in the Twin Cities, throughout the country and abroad this year.
As a soloist, Diana has performed many styles of music, including pop, classical, rock, r&b, hip-hop, reggae, blues, Latin, country, folk, ambient, theatrical, new music and jazz in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Norwegian, Hebrew, German and Finnish in recording studios, churches and on stages around the country. She is currently preparing some exciting recording and performance projects to be presented nationally and internationally this year.
As a producer with Chanson D’or Productions, Diana has produced and co-produced her original music in collaboration with Greg Wells (K.D. Lange’s drummer and keyboardist and writer for Celine Dion), Desmond Child (Pop-rock writer/producer for hundreds of charting singles), Marsha Malamet (writer for Barbra Streisand and others), Eric Borg (Paris producer/writer), Michael Sherwood (prolific L.A. singer/songwriter), terpsichore ( Minneapolis-based singer/composer/producer), Tony Axtell (Minneapolis-based musician/producer/writer) and original children’s music written in collaboration with the Children of the Lake, Diana and Tony Axtell’s children’s recording project based in Minneapolis, as well as many projects over the years in NY, LA, Paris and Minneapolis.
While maintaining her work as a vocalist and songwriter, Diana studied dance and voice with many very fine dance and classical vocal teachers in New York City, and has offered dance and vocal instruction and coaching in Miami, New York, Los Angeles and Minneapolis through her own Chanson Voice Studios, as well as at Walker West Music Academy in St. Paul and the Minnesota Valley School of Music in Richfield, Minnesota. She also has conducted children’s class seminars through the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s CONNECT Program, Children’s choirs at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and the Walker West Music Academy and has been on the roster of the COMPAS/WAITS Program (Writer’s and Artists in the Schools), Minnesota. She has also served on the review board at the Arts High School of the Twin Cities for prospective students. She has mentored hundreds of young singers and performing artists and produced many professional concerts in the Twin Cities, enlisting the expert talent of local musicians and technicians.
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