Neal Watson, The Edmonton Sun
November 2nd, 1990
The image has never done him justice.To this day when Gino Vannelli’s name is mentioned, it conjures up images of the darkest days of pop music in the 70s. Vannelli, shirt open to expose his hairy chest, is crooning one of his two huge hits of the ’70s, People Gotta Move and I Just Want to Stop..But, in Vannelli’s defence, certain things should be pointed out. The Montreal native survived disco and continues his successful recording career, the latest chapter of which is his new album, Inconsolable Man. Vannelli’s huge hit singles, 1985’s Black Cars and 87’s Wild Horses, were two of his strongest songs. How many other artists even remotely associated with the disco era have prospered into the 90s?
Today, 38-year-old Gino Vannelli, the married father of a four-year-old son, is centuries removed from that past. On his first major, tour in 11 years, he performs in Edmonton next Tuesday at the Dinwoodie Lounge at the University of Alberta.Soft-spoken and thoughtful. the title of his new album, Inconsolable Man, says a lot about the searching he did while writing songs for this record.Vannelli, interviewed from his Los Angeles home,speaks of his “cathartic or spiritual awakening.”You realize the things you do as an artist can be destructive to the other person in the house”he says.Artists like to live in a destructive way. It fuels the fire”. Becoming a father prompted Vannelli to reconsider the way he lived his life. But it’s been a long, slow process “You find things to light your fire that are not destructive,” he says. “It’s a whole behavioral change. You can’t just live for the music”.
Between the ages of 20 and 27, Vannelli toured 200 nights a year. It burned him out. Although he admits to being anxious about performing in front of audiences again, Vannelli is confident he’s found the right formula to “integrate technology with the human players.”The last big change (for the time being) that Vannelli plans to make is a move from his home for the past 12 years, Los Angeles.Crime, congestion and the craziness of life in southern California have convinced Vannelli that’s it’s not the place where he wants to bring up his child. He is thinking of moving either to the Pacific Northwest in the U.S. or Vancouver. “I’m still going through a changing time. I’m feeling pretty good about it.”
