With his smooth and resonant voice, good looks, and natty attire, vocalist Chris Ruggiero could have certainly taken the expected career route. To become another solo male interpreter of Sinatra, the Great American Songbook, and stage musical standards. Another Michael Bublé, Josh Groban, or Harry Connick, Jr.
But while he does dip his tonsil cords in those sonic streams sometimes, you’re more likely to hear Ruggiero put his spin on tunes of a later era in the ‘60s and ‘70s from the Mamas and the Papas, Four Seasons, Stylistics, Barry Manilow, Stevie Wonder, Three Dog Night, and even one-hit-wonder Len Barry (“1-2-3”).
And that’s on purpose.
“There already were so many people doing the music of Sinatra and the Jersey Boys tributes and the doo wop. And I’m not knocking them. That was the music I grew up with,” Ruggiero says via Zoom from his home in Florida (he also resides in New York City).
“But that music isn’t as popular anymore because the fans are not here and the singers have passed on. So, I wanted to go in a different direction for a younger crowd. And these are song that both an 80-year-old and a 20-year-old will know.”
Ruggiero will be able to put that theory to the test as one of the featured performers in “Symphonic ‘60s and ‘70s” on October 21 at the Stafford Centre.
The show promises in mostly a medley format more than 40 top 10 hits from those decades. Ruggiero will be one of several featured vocalists who will rotate performances, including Lisa Casalino, Avana Christie, and the four-man Motortown All-Stars made up of former members of Motown groups.
Expect to hear music from the Beatles, Beach Boys, Earth, Wind and Fire, Chicago, Aretha Franklin, the Turtles, Neil Diamond, and even the Foundations (“Build Me Up Buttercup”).
But what will make this different is that they’ll be backed by the 30-piece orchestra made up mostly of players from the Fort Bend Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Dominique Royem with Music Director Glen Rabywho.
The orchestra will be playing much of the setlist from charts specially crafted for this show by Charles Calello. Best known as the creator for most of the arrangements for Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, he’s also worked with Frank Sinatra, Neil Diamond, and Barbra Streisand.
“This is a bit different because it’s a collaboration and choosing what songs work best with each vocalist,” Ruggiero says. “Lisa has a very sweet, beautiful voice of innocence. Avana is really soulful and will rip it up. And then the All-Stars have a whole other set of skills. And we come together and share out love for the music, performing both together alone. But this is the first time I’ve done a show like this.”
He adds that the largest orchestra he’s sung in front of to date was only 15 pieces. And is looking forward to performing these songs, especially ones that didn’t originally include strings or string arrangements.
“People have never heard these songs done in this way before,” he says.
Emceeing the show will be Ronnie Renfrow, both a noted local big band leader and KPFT radio DJ on the daily “The R&R Show.”
“I’m looking forward to the evening, and it’s going to be grandiose with the band. There will be a ‘wow’ factor when the curtains open,” he says, noting that he’s looking forward to the Motown material.
So, if pressed, which Detroit-based group would he have wanted to be a part of back in the day?
“That’s easy! The Temptations!” he offers. “The variety of material they recorded, I could just go on and on. And even their more recent album of standards was incredible. They are the definition of timeless. And the dance moves, I think I could handle them. Even if I am a white boy!”
But back to Chris Ruggiero. The vocalist says that his path to music and performing started with his grandfather. He remembers being between 10 and 12 years old riding in his car on the way to his little league baseball game. His grandfather was playing a doo wop CD, and it was music that the now 27-year-old had never heard before.
“To be honest, I really didn’t like music. Kids in school were listening to Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift, and it just never spoke to me,” he says. “That day, I heard Larry Chance singing ‘The Streets of the Bronx’ and I just fell in love with it. I went home and downloaded every single doo wop song I could find. It was a digital discovery for me.”
Already in his career, Ruggiero has met and, in some cases, worked with some of great vocalists of the era, largely through is appearances on PBS specials and “Stars of the Sixties” package shows put together by Joseph Mirrione.
They include Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers, (“He’s the sweetest guy. I was in the studio once for six hours and he stayed the whole time. My first show in Vegas, he was sitting in the front row and I sang ‘Unchained Melody’).” Lou Christie (“He had a special aura around him. His moves were so great I asked him if he studied karate. There was a different version of himself every day, and his favorite topic was himself!”). Also, Gary Puckett, Bobby Rydell, Clint Holmes, and members of the Cyrkle, the Marvelettes, and the Del-Satins.
But he got to record with the possessor of one of the most era-defining voices, the great Darlene Love (“He’s a Rebel,” “He’s Sure the Boy I Love,” and the perennial holiday favorite “Christmas [Baby Please Come Home]”).
“She was great it was such a fun time working with her recording a Christmas tune. She’s a wonderful lady with an amazing voice,” Ruggiero says. Meeting backstage during intermission at one of her shows, Love off-the-cuff invited Ruggiero to sing “Christmas” with her to close it. It also happened to be his favorite holiday song.
Later, Ruggiero was doing an online interview when he was asked which vocalists would be on his bucket list for a duet. He named Love, and her publicist saw it and showed her the video. A lunch meeting was arranged and Ruggiero talked about a Christmas album he was recording but was having a problem nailing one tune called “Grown Up Christmas List.” Love said she’d take it home to study, and they ended up putting it down together in the studio. It appeared on 2022’s Christmas with Chris Ruggiero.
Visitors to his website know that Ruggiero has another passion besides music, and that’s cooking—mostly of the Italian variety reflective of his ethnicity. He posts videos and recipes as well.
So, if he’s in the kitchen and really wants to impress someone, what’s the go-to dish he’s concocting in there?
“I’m gonna go for a pasta dish. Last night, I made a broccoli rabe with sausage and pasta in a spicy sauce with tomatoes. I like to think outside the box and do things you won’t see in restaurants.” He also gets inspirations from annual trips to Italy itself. “I just got back from a month there, and I gained 12 pounds!” he laughs.
Finally, since this writer and the singer do share a last name (which I’ve both heard and spoken in several different iterations), I must ask: How does Chris Ruggiero pronounce “Ruggiero?”
“Well, there’s a right way and a wrong way!” he laughs. “If you were in Italy, you’d say ‘Roo-jerr-ro’ and in America, we say ‘Roo-jeer-ro.’ The wrong way is “Ruh-jeer-e-o’ because that’s not how it’s spelled, though one spelled that way does exist.”
When I confess that my family has pronounced it the easier, more American-sounding “wrong way” for decades—even though I have known better for a while—I do add that my daughter is fighting a one woman battle to restore authenticity in how she pronounced it on her outgoing voice mail message.
“Good for her!” my new paisan laughs. “You tell her I said that!”
Symphonic ’60s and ‘70s is at 7:30 pm on Wednesday, October 21, at the Stafford Centre, 10505 Cash. For more information call 281-208-6900 or visit StaffordCentre.com. $57.88-$96.90.
For more information on Chris Ruggiero, visit ChrisRuggieroSings.com.
