BILL CURRERI:
CHASING THE
Dream
Growing Up In Greenwich Village...

Bill was raised in a tight-knit Italian-American immigrant family in the historic era of 1950s and ‘60s Greenwich Village, New York. As the Neapolitan folk music of his ancestors played in the background of his grandparents’ third-floor tenement apartment, the streets of Greenwich Village were coming alive with the early sounds of rock and folk.

Musical Roots

Even at a young age, it was becoming clear that Bill was a talented singer and lyricist. During his teenage years, Bill, his brother, Bob and a group of friends formed a band called The Village Merchants that played regularly at legendary venues throughout the New York City area. Bill continued to perform and write music during his college years at NYU and ultimately formed the band Stillwater.

At age 27, Mercury Records offered Bill and the band a recording contract on the strength of a tape that they had recorded in the studio. Bowing to family pressures and a promising career in advertising, Bill reluctantly said no to the deal.

Advertising & Teaching

Bill spent the next three decades pursuing a successful career in marketing, advertising, Internet consulting and academia. But through it all, he maintained an in-house recording studio and continued to write songs over the years that no one, except a few family members and friends, ever heard.

Several years after retiring from his career in marketing, Bill began teaching remedial reading as an Adjunct Professor at John Jay College in New York City and helped many of his students pursue their dream of getting a college education.

Returning To Music

 In September 2012, at age 63, Bill released his first CD, “Long Time Gone”. Bill’s debut album has generated airplay on forty-seven radio stations in twenty-five states and has been played in countries around the world. With an ensemble of world-class session players behind him including two Grammy-Award winning musicians, “Long Time Gone” has received considerable critical acclaim and has helped to establish Bill as one of today’s premier up and coming Rock Americana singer-songwriters.

The Dream Continues

“Son Of An American Dream”, Bill’s second musical offering released on September 2, 2014, picks up where Bill’s critically acclaimed debut album, “Long Time Gone” left off.  The album celebrates the continuation of Bill’s dream… his successful life-long journey back to his first love, music.  “Son Of An American Dream” has been met with considerable enthusiasm by the critics and has generated substantial crossover radio play to date among both “Top 40” and “Adult Contemporary” radio stations. Nonetheless, Bill continues to push himself both as a musician and artist.  After completing a shoot of a full concert-length music video at the Bitter End in New York City Bill proclaimed, “My goal now is to get my music out to as broad an audience as possible and perhaps even go on tour and play these songs live to an appreciative audience.  That’s my hope!  That’s my dream!”

Bringing It All Back Home

Hard Road Home, Bill’s most ambitious album to date, continues his signature Rock Americana style fusing memorably moving melodies and poetically inspired lyrics with soaring three-part harmonies and a rock-solid beat. In Hard Road Home, Bill has produced a truly inspiring album around a key universal theme: self-fulfillment is only achieved through hard work and perseverance. And each song on the CD speaks to one of the many challenges we all may face during our lives.

Whether it be the eternal quest for self-fulfillment (Still Running), the negativism of a toxic relationship (Heart Of Stone), staying positive in an increasingly negative world (If Only To Be Me), balancing the idealism of youth vs. the wisdom of old age (A Fool’s Heart Crying), celebrating true friendship in an isolated digital world (Call My Name) or remaining steadfast in the face of adversity (The Point Of No Return), Bill’s message is clear, “Whatever happens to the life you live you got to understand it’s all within your hands.”

The CD ends with Bill revealing his personal life’s quest... finding his true love, Lydia. Says Bill, “In the end it was a series of failed relationships that ultimately led me to Lydia, a union of total mutual respect and acceptance.” That is Bill’s uniquely personal message in Hard Road Home: “I’m not half the man I’d hope to be. And yet I’m still your number one.”