Too often do we neglect or take for granted the artistic skills and talents that can touch or inspire many people, but for Gioia (pronounced ‘joy-ah’), his final realization came as the result of a dramatic, near-death experience. Hailing from the historic ‘North End’ of Boston, Massachusetts, Gioia grew up as the product of an Italian family centered on strong cultural values and an exemplary work ethic towards all endeavors. “I was always taught that nothing would be handed to me,” recalls Gioia. “So if I wanted anything in life, then it was up to me to figure out how to attain it and then make it happen.”
Gioia was involved in singing at a young age through grammar school, and then at the age of ten, he attended a sold out concert with his big sister by the famous rock group ‘Kiss.’ At that moment, he recalls enthusiastically “I was hooked!” Gioia continues, “ I remember it clear as day; the lights, the fire, the elevating stage, the crazy, screaming fans, the costumes and the blaring, ear drum piercing music. For me, that was it. I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to be when I grew up….A ROCKSTAR!” Little did he know what he was getting himself into….
After staying involved with music throughout college, performing in various on-campus shows and graduating with a B.A. in communications, Gioia landed a job at Club Med Florida, as a scuba instructor and performer. He then relocated to Orlando where he hoped to launch his career as a pop star. He worked as a waiter and recorded a demo of pop dance music. Gioia was hell bent on succeeding, and being very aggressive with his music career he invested thousands of dollars into a business deal that his producer was undertaking to launch an indie record label. Unfortunately, the deal turned out to be a scam and the producers lending partner was arrested by the FBI for fraud. At that point Gioia recalls, “I was very disappointed and jaded. I just had my life savings stolen from me with no possibility of recouping it. I was broke, my friends were pursuing reliable careers, and my parents were telling me to ‘get a real job.’ Without being able to play a musical instrument, I had reached a dead end and my passion for singing was wavering. So I caved in to all the surrounding circumstances and made the commitment to a full time professional job. I worked for a restaurant franchising company called “Pasta Lovers” as a training manager. After the restaurant openings were all completed, I moved back to Boston, landed a job as a restaurant manager, got married and started a family.”
As Gioia’s family became his top priority, the idea of pursuing a successful music career eventually faded away; until one night when the unexpected happened. As Gioia was driving home from a late night of work, he began to doze off and got into an accident which flipped his car over seven times. At the crash scene, Gioia claims to have experienced a supportive spiritual presence. He later spent 3 days on life support. The entire event was a wake-up call for Gioia to be grateful for his life, but it also reignited his gift of music from within, inspiring him to write the song “Angel on your Shoulder”. Gioia had now come full circle. (Read “The true story behind ‘Angel on your Shoulder’” for all the details.)
Influenced by artists such as Rod Stewart, U2, Madonna, Justin Timberlake, Rihanna, and Lady Gaga, Gioia bridges modern pop and dance music. Currently, Gioia is wrapping up his sophomore album entitled Flawless (scheduled to be released in winter of 2010). This album reflects all of his musical influences through a dance-pop sound, which is also fused together with various other modern genres and a range of various subject matters
which personally affect his life on a direct and also indirect level. These topics range with everything from life, death, the environment, and an underlying love toward humanity with a sense of global unity that exists beyond distinctions of race, color, or creed.
Flawless consists of powerful songs such as “The Fire Rages On,” which speaks to the burning of the rainforest while challenging people to be environmentally responsible and accountable. “I’m big on environmental care, and the track reflects about the current state of the environment, the need for global awareness, and also the need for conservationist changes.” Another substantial track, “Love Is All We’ll Know” makes the statement that our true nature as human beings is solely to love one another. And on his most personal song, “Angel on your Shoulder,” Gioia delivers an emotional and inspiring vocal performance channeling all he’s experienced about love, life and nearing death on that faithful night and beyond. “When recording those vocals, I reconnected to those loved ones, including myself, who battled through life and death struggles, some of those who have survived and some of those who didn’t. I hope the song inspires those of us who have had or know people dealing with their own life-and-death struggles, to stay hopeful and strive toward positive outcomes.” Of course there are also plenty of songs to dance to and get excited about; from “Real”, to “Angel Child”, to “Turn U Out” with each song painting a vivid picture in the listener’s mind through Gioia’s considerable lyrics, colorful vocal arrangements and infectious production.
With production done entirely by Marc Soucy of AudioMusicVoice and Surefire Music Group, Flawless will stand as a work of art crossing various genres through originality of instrumentation, lyrics, and a number of personal experiences. “With each song, I aim to create something more than music. I want listeners to be able to envision what the song is about while also being emotionally moved and inspired. Whether they understand the message that I am trying to share with the listener or they develop their own understanding, I want everyone to be able to enjoy and develop a connection to my music.”
Since ‘Gioia’ means “joy or jewel” in Italian, then it is only right that Gioia’s listeners should expect to take away jewels of hope, positivity, and unity from his music. For booking or more information, please contact gioiamusic@yahoo.com and visit www.gioiamusic.com for news updates, song previews, and performance dates.
Written by Shawn Stewart
Edited by Gioia
View Gioia's EPK...
2008/2009 Past Performances...........
9/26/09
Bethlehem Artisan Festival Sturbridge, MA......................
8/21/09
6th Annual Frantasia Festival of Out Music and Arts
Murray Hall, Livermore Falls, Maine......................
8/18/09
Montgomery County Agricultural Fair
Gaithersburg, MD......................
8/3/09
Mt. Sunapee Resort / 76th Annual League of NH Craftsmen’s Fair
Newbury, New Hampshire......................
7/24/09
the Elks at Bass Rocks
Gloucester, Ma......................
07/11/09
Norway Arts Festival
Norway, Maine..................
06/21/09
Make Music Cambridge!
Harvard Square
Cambridge, MA..................
6/06/09
Teddy Bear Festival
New Milford, CT..................
5/15/09
Unity Performing Arts Festival
2 days/200 hundred bands!
Salisbury, Maryland..................
5/06/09
Kings Lounge
Boston, MA.......................
4/29/09
No. 9 Ale House
Malden, Ma. ......................
4/07/09
American Trash,
NYC................
3/15/09
Oasis Cafe
Long Valley, NJ..................
2/28/09
Get Resued in Gulfport
Gulfport, Florida.................
2/25/09
the Dogfish Bar and Grille
Portland, Maine..................
2/18/09
Kings Lounge
Boston, MA.......................
2/5/09
Tupelo Music Hall
Londonderry, NH...............
1/29/09
Cody Brewing Company
Danvers, Ma.....................
1/19/09
MYBO Grassroots Ball 2009,
the Social Celebrating the Inauguration of Barack Obama
Universalist National Memorial Church
Washington, DC.................
1/14/09
No. 9 Ale House
Malden, Ma. ......................
1/13/09
Dog Bar
Gloucester, Ma......................
1/8/09
New Page Blues Café
Weymouth, Ma.......................
12/28/08
The Renaissance Institute of Spiritual Development Open House
Private Residence
Worcester, Ma........................
12/16/08
Greenwich Hotel & Lounge
East Greenwich, RI.................
12/14/08
Performance of "Love Is All We'll Know"
For Obama event "Change is Coming"
Private Residence
Concord, NH...........................
12/13/08
Performance of "Love Is All We'll Know"
For Obama event "Let Your Voice Be Heard"
Private Residence
Worchester, Ma......................
12/10/08
Narrows Center for the Arts
Fall River, Ma.........................
12/4/08
Bristol Entertainment Industry Showcase
at Felt Boston
Boston, Ma.............................
11/25/08
Club Passim-open mic
Cambridge, Ma.....................
11/2/08
Crowd warm up with Singpositive
at "Unite for Change" rally featuring
President Bill Clinton at Manchester Central HS
Manchester, NH.....................
11/2/08
Obama “Get Out the Vote” Event with Singpositive
Downtown Concord, NH................
10/27/08
Bristol Studio Industry Showcase
Boston, Ma...........................
10/23/08
Energize Leominster, Community Room
at Fidelity Bank Building
Leominster, MA.....................
10/19/08
Sunday Afternoon Community Party
at Middle East Café
Cambridge, MA.....................
9/27/08
Community Empowerment and Green Solutions Fair
at Life Alive Urban Oasis and Café
Lowell, MA.....................
9/23/08
Starbucks Cafe
Chelmsford, MA..................
9/6/08
Grassroots For Obama Rally on the National Mall
Washington, DC.....................
8/11/08
Bristol Studio Industry Showcase
Boston, MA..................
8/5/08
Featured Vocal Artist for SongsAlive
NY Chapter at Session73
New York, NY.................
7/20/08
Charity Fundraiser at American Legion Hall
Burlington, MA................
7/11/08
Obama fundraiser
at David Lynch Park
Beverly, MA.
The true story behind “Angel on your Shoulder”
.....
On one very cold, November night at 3am…the unexpected happened. As Gioia was driving home from work, he began to doze off and lost control of his car. As the car began to swerve from one lane to the next, Gioia panicked and slammed on the brakes causing the rear end of the car to spin out of control and flip over seven times. Gioia was critically injured, suffering from broken ribs, a chipped vertebra, a bruised heart and bleeding lungs but because he didn’t suffer any head trauma, he remained completed coherent for the whole ordeal. What occurred next, with his life now on the line is extraordinary. “It was a surreal experience but I was aware and able to remember everything”, Gioia recalls. “Once the car finished rolling, I was laying on the inside of my upside down car, on its roof. I was all alone. No other cars had pulled over; no other cars were even driving by. The pain in my back was excruciating. I remember the first thing I did was wiggle my fingers and toes just to make sure I wasn’t paralyzed, which I wasn’t and I was so very thankful for that. I tried to crawl out of the car but I was in waaaay too much pain. Still, I was determined to get out of the car because I felt so strongly that if I stayed in that car I was going to die. So again, I tried to crawl out of the car but I just couldn’t physically do it. Frustrated, I slammed my hand down and screamed. At that moment, as if to answer my frustration, I heard a soothing woman’s voice and it said to me, “Everything’s going to be alright, help is on the way”. I immediately looked around but no one was there. No woman, no other car…..I screamed back, “Someone’s got to get me out of this fucking car right now!” But there was no response. Again, no one was there with me, I was all alone. So I said to myself, “Alright, guess I’ll just have to wait it out.” So I stop struggling to get out of the car. I just put my head down, and trusted what was said to me. About five minutes later, an ambulance pulled up to my car. I was relieved to finally see someone. The EMT’s talked to me for a few moments. They were discussing how to safely remove me from the crushed car but after a few minutes they decided they couldn’t wait any longer. The exact quote from one of them to the other was, “He looks like shit! We’ve got to get him out of there right now!” So they slide a backboard through the rear window, reached in through the broken glass, flipped me onto the backboard and pulled me out of the car. I was very lucky but as it turned out, even luckier than I imagined, as they told me in the ambulance that no one had called them. They just happened to be driving by my accident on their way to Lowell General Hospital with another sick person they were transporting there. Once again, luck was on my side as the hospital was only a few miles away, and since, unknown to all of us at the time, my lungs were bleeding meaning I only had about 20 minutes from the time of the accident to get treatment or I would have died from the buildup of fluid in my lungs. Once I got to the hospital, they examine me and told me they were going to tranquilize me. I said to the nurse with great relief ‘Thank you!’ because I was so over being in that much pain for so long. At that point, I thought I was home free and would be better by the morning…wrong!” For Gioia and his family, this ordeal was far from over.
Gioia spent the next 3 days on life support surrounded by his loved ones and clinging to his life, fighting to overcome not only the traumatic injuries from his car accident but also a life threatening 106 degree fever which developed from a bad cold he had caught days before the accident. Gioia continues, “Over the next 3 days, the doctors informed my family several times that they believed I was not going to survive the night. The internal injuries alone were serious enough to kill me but once my fever spiked to 106 degrees, death was imminent…. It was hell for my entire family as the doctors treatment me around the clock. They battled, I battle, the doctors battled. Luckily, I pulled through. I don’t have any memories of being on life support other than when the morphine had prematurely worn off and I started gagging on the breathing tube. I instinctively ripped it out of my mouth. I did that twice. Other than that, being on life support is all a blank, no heavenly voices like I heard at the crash scene or outer body experiences. Just blackness until the morphine was turned off and I woke up 3 days later. Funny, when I returned to consciousness I thought it was just the next morning after the crash. What a surprise when they told me I nearly died! I wish the nurse had told me I was on my death bed. I would have liked to have spoken to my loved ones before they put me out.” As for the woman’s voice Gioia heard, he firmly contends it was a feminine spiritual presence. “I wouldn’t go as far as saying I am convinced it was the voice of God but it certainly was not of this world or my imagination. Its soothing presence gave me great comfort and strength, leaving me filled with a feeling of peace and love. It inspired me to fight on and it absolutely left me with a feeling that we are not alone.” (The EMT’s that rescued Gioia did confirm that he was alone when they arrived at the crash site and also that no 911 call was received by them about the crash.)
The next three months for Gioia was a time of painful recovery. Gioia rejected all of the pain meds he was prescribed. He says, “I didn’t want to take a chance of addiction. Plus, I was so happy to have survived in one piece. After what I had just experienced, I was just grateful for another day, any day, regardless of the pains”. During the recovery period, Gioia wrote the lyrics and melody for “Angel on your Shoulder”, inspired by his recent life changing event .
From that point on, music would again be Gioia’s greatest passion.
..
Thanks for the request. I came by to show you some love on your page. Come by anytime. If you need help with your Online Network Marketing, click the picture above. Once on my website click "Member Application" to get a free or vip membership to my website. I hope you're having a great week. Talk to you later.
Please, no "buy/sale friends" and/or "mafia" apps allowed... Thanks!
+ '...When and where people think Collectively firstly(not to be mistaken for "group-think mindsets"), the Plight and Well Being of the Individual is advanced all the more... and with the attendant benefit of a Social Safety Net that is knitted with the joining of Collective Hands For The Public Good...' www.myspace.com/1inbeat1 '...INBEAT...' (International Beat) Song by Black Slate: "...Amigo..." ( http://www.myspace.com/blackslate ) Cheers and stay strong! E.N. ... December 20, 2008 .................................. What is '...INBEAT...'? Listen ... and Think '...INBEAT...' (International Beat) Song by ZMMM: "...People get ready..." http://www.myspace.com/ziggymarley ................................... Think of '...INBEAT...' as being a '...Global Community...' that belongs to all of its Members... Just like an Internet based United Nations, if you will. It will be used as a mechanism for addressing some of the present and future Global Challenges through the timely introduction of '...Precisioned Initiatives...' that the Community can execute. Because of the precisioned attributes of the '...Envisioned Initiatives...', they would invariably be less costly and more effective than prevailing "programs". Why, you may ask? : Simply because the Initiatives will be coming directly from their '...Source Of Origin...'. Please review the '...INBEAT...'(InternationalBeat) Profile... Have a great week!
Hey :) Just wanted to say thanks for the support and adding me I really appreciate it. My new song "The Fall" is now up on my page. you can now download for free too! thanks for the support. Much Love!!!
Comment me or message me.. Send photo comments.. I always respond!! :)
Come for the girls, stay for the community! Over 200 models!!! Journals, forums, chatrooms! Premium profiles for artists, photographers, writers, and tattoo artists!!
May the Lord Jesus Christ lead you to the will He has for your life guide direct protect & provide His divine favor to you & your loved ones.Lord help us to do those things that are pleasing to Your sight.By all means necessary, do in us what we cant do ourselves, help us to focus on You, and not our earthly circumstances. Stay blessed and remember Jesus loves you. May the Lord Jesus pour out these same blessings to every eye that see it.Stay blessed my friend 1!
Online Now!
