Paul Pesco

Paul Pesco (born May 13, 1959 in Canandaigua, New York) is a Eurasian American session guitarist, singer-songwriter, film score composer and record producer.

Paul Pesco
Photo taken in 2013
Background information
Born	May 13, 1959 Canandaigua, New York, U.S.
Genres	Pop, funk, jazz fusion
Occupation(s)	Session musician, film score composer
Instruments	Guitar, bass guitar, keyboards
Associated acts	Hall & Oates, Jennifer Lopez, Madonna, The System

Biography

Pesco was born to a Sicilian father (an opera singer and voice instructor) and Korean mother (an author).[1] The family lived for a time in Germany during Paul's youth before returning to New York.[1] He graduated from Northport High School in 1977.[2] As of November 2012, Pesco resides in Millbrook, New York, where he maintains a home recording studio.[3]

Beginning on the piano, Pesco would gradually build up a working proficiency with several different instruments before finding a natural fit with the guitar. He began seriously pursuing a career in music by working as a rehearsal technician at S.I.R. Studios, where he had brushes with numerous prominent artists. Having already played on some early sessions by a then-relatively unknown Madonna, Pesco was offered a position as a "utility man" (playing second guitar and keyboards) with Atlantic Starr on the band's 1982 tour, which would be his first prolific gig. Following this tour, Pesco was again recruited by Madonna to record on her self-titled debut album.[3]

Soon thereafter, Pesco joined up with the innovative techno funk group the System, performing on the band's studio albums as well as tours and becoming an instrumental part of launching the group's career. It was through his work with the System that he first came to the attention of the group Hall & Oates, with whom he would soon develop a long-term association.

These early gigs segued into future sessions with other high-profile artists, and his session career blossomed from there. He played on demos for disco artist Lourett Russell Grant. He became an in-demand session player throughout the 1980s and has remained one of the most sought-after session musicians into the present.

Meanwhile, Pesco had also maintained his working relationship with Madonna, having recorded and toured with her (the first album, songs "Lucky Star" and "Burning Up" as well as The Virgin Tour in 1985 and the Erotica album and subsequent Girlie Show World Tour in 1993). The Madonna demos on which he had played guitar prior to touring with Atlantic Starr initially secured her recording contract with Sire Records in the early 1980s, which have since been released as the Pre-Madonna album.[4]

Other highlights

In 1986, Pesco played on Steve Winwood's album Back in the High Life (on the song "The Finer Things") and on tour.

In 1989, Pesco released a solo album, Make It Reality, which featured himself on lead vocals, guitar, and often other instruments, backed by other session musicians.

In 1991, Pesco joined C+C Music Factory, creating the guitar parts for "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)", "Things That Make You Go Hmmm...", among many other songs.[5]

In 2001, he became musical director and guitarist for Jennifer Lopez, for her promotional tour and NBC music special. Pesco had worked with J-Lo in the studio, playing guitar on the song "Play" from her second album J.Lo.

In late 2002, he joined the house band for morning talk show The Wayne Brady Show on ABC. Around the same time, he worked on several film soundtracks including Around the Bend, Be Cool, Happy Feet and Robots with composer John Powell, the Brando documentary and the comedic short film, Basta Pasta with composer Andrea Morricone.

Pesco has also composed and performed on soundtracks for films such as Roxanne, Earth Girls Are Easy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Encino Man, Wild Orchid, Coming to America, Fried Green Tomatoes, Boca and Tap.

In 2005, Pesco co-composed the musical score for the documentary film The Canary Effect from director Robin Davey.

Pesco has recorded and toured with Joan Baez.

He is a member and co-producer of John Blackwell's John Blackwell Project (4ever Jia album).

He is also a member of drummer Dave Weckl's group (Multiplicity album).

Association with Hall and Oates

Pesco was the lead guitarist and musical director of the rock and soul duo Hall & Oates.[6] He also performed the same role for Daryl Hall's successful reality music television program, Live from Daryl's House,[6] and toured with Hall's solo band.

H&O were aware of Pesco because of his studio track record with the System,[6] and also his prolific work with many other artists. Initially, that led to Pesco playing guitar on their Ooh Yeah! album in 1988. He joined Hall & Oates again in 1996 for the recording sessions and tour for the Marigold Sky album.

He remained with the band until 2001, when he began working with Jennifer Lopez.

In 2010, Pesco rejoined Hall & Oates upon the death of the band's longtime bassist, Tom "T-Bone" Wolk.[7] He remained with the band through 2013 and had a highly visible role during Live from Daryl's House broadcasts.[3]

On January 6, 2014, Pesco publicly acknowledged his departure from the Live from Daryl's House show and the Hall & Oates band. On his Facebook page, Pesco wrote, "I am no longer involved with LFDH or H&O ... I was replaced ... Not sure why ... Sorry that I couldn't be more informative."[8] He added, "No one is more disappointed than I am ... I loved being a part of LFDH."[9] He concluded, "Sometimes the tail wags the dog. I think Daryl and John made a decision based on misinformation and lies... It's a shame..."[10]

He appeared on June 26 at Summerfest 2014 in Milwaukee.

Gear / endorsements

• Suhr Guitars, amps and pedals
• ESP Guitars
• Taylor Guitars
• Seymour Duncan Pickups
• DR Handmade Strings
• Line 6 digital effects[11]
• Fishman Pickups[12]
• Empirical Labs
• QSC Audio Products[13]
• PreSonus StudioLive
• Quilter Labs (Amps)
• Tronical
• Cusack Pedals
• Soundtoys Plugins
• PRA WiC digital wireless systems for guitar

Solo discography

Album

• Make It Reality (Sire), 1989

Singles

• "Black Is Black" (Sire)
• "I'm Hypnotized" (Sire)
• "The Politics of Love" (Sire)[14]

Collaborations

Year	Album	Artist	Role
2013	Sex, Love & Reggae	Gyptian	Guitar
2012	All of Me	Estelle	Guitar
2012	Kaleidoscope Dream	Miguel	Composer, Guitar
2012	The Crossing	Sophie B. Hawkins	Guitar
2011	Endless Planets	Austin Peralta	Mixing, producer
2011	Laughing Down Crying	Daryl Hall	Composer, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Photography, producer
2011	My Life II... The Journey Continues (Act 1)	Mary J. Blige	Guitar
2010	By Request (album)	Paulo Gonzo	Guitar
2010	Sacred Journey of Ku-Kai Vol. 4	Kitaro	Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric)
2009	Do What You Want, Be What You Are: The Music of Daryl Hall & John Oates	Daryl Hall & John Oates	Composer
2009	The Collection	Whitney Houston	Guitar
2009	The Element of Freedom	Alicia Keys	Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric)
2009	The End: A New Beginning	John Krondes	Guitar (Electric)
2008	Greatest Hits (Steel Box Collection)	Cyndi Lauper	Main Personnel
2008	Original Album Classics	Cyndi Lauper	Main Personnel
2007	Jazz Club: Jazz for the Road		Guitar (Electric)
2007	Sacred Journey of Ku-Kai Vol. 3	Kitaro	Guitar (Electric)
2006	Fresh and Furious: Hip Hop's Beginning	Grandmaster Flash	Drum Programming, Guitar
2006	Happy Feet Original Soundtrack		Guitar
2006	Reflections (A Retrospective)	Mary J. Blige	Guitar
2006	Spiritual Garden	Kitaro	Guitar, Main Personnel
2005	Abdel Wright	Abdel Wright	Guitar, Main Personnel
2005	Multiplicity	Dave Weckl	Guitar, Member of Attributed Artist
2005	Robots Original Score	John Powell	Bagpipes
2005	Sounds of Life: A Musical Journey for Childbirth and Beyond		Guitar
2005	The Essential Daryl Hall & John Oates	Daryl Hall & John Oates	Composer, lyricist
2005	X-Periment/Pleasure Seekers	The System	Composer, Guitar
2004	Seldom Blues	Alexander Zonjic	Guest Artist, Guitar, Main Personnel
2004	Ultimate Daryl Hall + John Oates	Daryl Hall & John Oates	Composer
2003	Do It for Love	Daryl Hall & John Oates	Composer, Guitar (Acoustic)
2003	Live in Concert	Daryl Hall & John Oates	Composer
2003	Sacred Journey of Ku-Kai	Kitaro	Guitar (Electric), Slide Guitar
2003	Sophistication	Grady Nichols	Guitar, Guitar (Rhythm), Main Personnel, Soloist
2002	O2	O-Town	Guest Artist, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric)
2002	Duboc	Carol Duboc	Guitar
2002	Groovology	Gerald Albright	Guest Artist, Guitar (Electric)
2002	VH1 Behind the Music: The Daryl Hall and John Oates Collection	Daryl Hall & John Oates	Composer
2001	Ballads	Mary J. Blige	Guitar
2001	Dirty Little Secret	Stella Soleil	Guest Artist, Guitar
2001	Hypnotic	Paul Taylor	Guitar, Main Personnel
2001	J.Lo	Jennifer Lopez	Guitar
2001	Love Session	Silk	Guest Artist, Guitar
2001	MYOB	Deborah Gibson	Guitar
2001	The Very Best of Miki Howard	Miki Howard	Guitar, Main Personnel
2000	Against All Odds	Take 5	Guitar
2000	Another Rosie Christmas	Rosie O'Donnell	Guitar
2000	Love Songs	Najee	Guitar
2000	Movimiento perpetuo	Sentidos Opuestos	Guitar
2000	Tamar	Tamar Braxton	Guitar
2000	X	K-Ci & JoJo	Guitar
1999	G	Gerald Levert	Guitar
1999	Mary	Mary J. Blige	Guitar
1999	On the 6	Jennifer Lopez	Guitar
1999	Smoke This	Lynch Mob	Engineer, Guest Artist, Guitar, Keyboards, producer, Vox Organ
1999	The Game	Chico DeBarge	Guitar
1999	Tonight	Silk	Guitar
1998	All the Colors	Sonny Southon	Guest Artist, Guitar
1998	For Art's Sake	Art Porter Jr.	Guitar
1998	Pre-Madonna	Madonna	Guitar
1998	Midnight	Jeff Lorber	Guitar
1997	Forever More	Charito	Guitar, Percussion
1997	Marigold Sky	Daryl Hall & John Oates	Guitar
1996	Billy Mann	Billy Mann	Guitar (Electric), Sitar
1996	Ladae!	Ladae!	Guitar
1996	Second Wind	Herb Alpert	Guest Artist, Guitar
1996	The Craft		Guitar
1996	Women: Live from Mountain Stage		Guitar, Vocals (Background)
1995	Faith	Faith Evans	Unknown Contributor Role
1995	Let's Go Bang	Jennifer Love Hewitt	Guitar (Electric)
1995	Ring Them Bells	Joan Baez	Dobro, Guitar, Vocals
1995	Roberta	Roberta Flack	Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric)
1995	The Finer Things	Steve Winwood	Guitar
1995	Your Heart's in Good Hands	Al Green	Guitar
1994	Always & Forever	Eternal	Guitar, Sitar
1994	Cindy Mizelle	Cindy Mizelle	Guitar
1994	My Life	Mary J. Blige	Guitar
1994	Undercover	Art Porter Jr.	Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Wah Wah Guitar
1994	Vive en mí	Manuel Mijares	Guitar
1994	West Side Stories	Jeff Lorber	Guitar (Rhythm), Wah Wah Guitar
1993	The Colour of My Love	Celine Dion	Guitar
1993	Music Box	Mariah Carey	Guitar
1993	21 Really Cool Songs	Sugar Beats	Musician, Unknown Contributor Role
1993	A Matter of Time	Vertical Hold	Guitar
1993	L.A. Blues Authority Volume II: Glenn Hughes – Blues	Glenn Hughes	Guitar
1993	Call Me Nightlife	Nokko	Guitar
1993	Don't Look Back	Al Green	Guitar
1993	I'm No Angel	Carole Davis	Bass, composer, engineer, Guitar, producer, Vocals (Background)
1993	Magical Duos		Saxophone
1993	Nick Scotti	Nick Scotti	Guitar
1993	The Donna Summer Anthology	Donna Summer	Guitar
1992	Celine Dion	Celine Dion	Guitar
1992	Buffy the Vampire Slayer Original Soundtrack		Guitar, Keyboards
1992	Cool	Bob James	Guest Artist, Guitar (Rhythm)
1992	Deeper and Deeper	Madonna	Guitar
1992	Encino Man Original Soundtrack		Guitar, Programming
1992	Erotica	Madonna	Guitar
1992	Exposé	Exposé	Guitar
1992	Greatest Remixes Vol. 1	Clivillés & Cole	Guitar, Vocals
1992	Just an Illusion	Najee	Guitar
1992	Live	Patti Austin	Guitar
1992	Pocket City	Art Porter Jr.	Guitar
1992	Sin Red	Valeria Lynch	Guitar
1992	Sofia Shinas	Sofia Shinas	Guitar
1992	Time for Love	Freddie Jackson	Guitar
1992	Tyler	Tyler Collins	Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic)
1991	Aidalai	Mecano	Guest Artist
1991	Different Story	Deborah Blando	Guitar
1991	Emotions	Mariah Carey	Guitar
1991	Just One Night	Samantha Fox	Guitar
1991	Mistaken Identity	Donna Summer	Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic)
1991	No More Games/The Remix Album	New Kids on the Block	Unknown Contributor Role
1991	Ricca	Ricca	Guitar
1991	Victims	Steel Pulse	Guitar
1991	What Comes Naturally	Sheena Easton	Guitar
1990	Mariah Carey	Mariah Carey	Guitar
1990	Unison	Celine Dion	Guitar
1990	1990	David Rudder	Composer
1990	Contribution	Mica Paris	Guitar
1990	Gonna Make You Sweat	C+C Music Factory	Guitar
1990	Make the Difference	Tracie Spencer	Guitar
1990	Anything Is Possible	Debbie Gibson	Guitar
1990	Swingin'	Dino	Guest Artist, Guitar
1990	Wild Orchid Original Soundtrack		Associate Producer, composer, producer
1989	24/7	Dino	Guitar
1989	A Night to Remember	Cyndi Lauper	Guitar
1989	Desert Wind	Ofra Haza	Guitar
1989	Home	Stephanie Mills	Guitar
1989	Master of the Game	James "J.T." Taylor	Guitar
1989	Passion in the Heart	Shirley Lewis	Guitar
1989	Raw	Alyson Williams	Guest Artist, Guitar
1989	Riverdance	Peter Moffitt	Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric)
1989	So Happy	Eddie Murphy	Guitar
1988	CK	Chaka Khan	Guitar
1988	Roll with It	Steve Winwood	Guitar
1987	Don't Disturb This Groove	The System	Guest Artist, Guitar
1987	Finer Things in Life	Chuck Stanley	Guitar
1987	Never Never Land	Simon F.	Guitar (Electric)
1987	Scars of Love	TKA	Guitar
1987	The Hunger	Michael Bolton	Guitar
1987	Whitney	Whitney Houston	Guitar
1986	Come Share My Love	Miki Howard	Guitar
1986	Back in the High Life	Steve Winwood	Guitar
1986	One Step Closer	Gavin Christopher	Guitar, Keyboards
1986	Destiny	Chaka Khan	Guitar, Guitar (Electric)
1986	Dial My Number	Pauli Carman	Guitar
1986	Heartbeat	Don Johnson	Bass, Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic)
1986	Hot Together	The Pointer Sisters	Guitar
1986	Inside Out	Philip Bailey	Composer
1986	Never Felt So Good	James Ingram	Guitar
1986	Souvenirs	Jenny Burton	Guitar
1986	While the City Sleeps...	George Benson	Guitar
1985	Chillin'	The Force M.D.'s	Drum Programming, Guitar
1985	Everybody's Crazy	Michael Bolton	Guitar
1985	How Could It Be	Eddie Murphy	Guitar
1985	Pleasure Seekers	The System	Composer, Guitar
1985	Street Called Desire	René & Angela	Guest Artist, Guitar
1985	They Said It Couldn't Be Done	Grandmaster Flash	Additional Personnel, Drum Programming, Guitar
1985	Love Games	Evan Rogers	Guitar
1984	Chinese Wall	Philip Bailey	Composer
1984	I Feel for You	Chaka Khan	Guitar
1984	Let Me Be the One	Angela Bofill	Composer, Drum Programming, Guitar
1984	Step By Step	Jeff Lorber	Bass, Guitar
1984	X-Periment	The System	Guitar, Primary Artist
1983	Doin' It My Way	Howard Johnson	Guitar
1983	Madonna (album)	Madonna	Guest Artist, Guitar

References

1. Waugh, Lisa. Paul Pesco – Musician Extraordinaire Archived October 12, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, rockworldmagazine.com, August 18, 2011 (accessed January 31, 2016).
2. Paul Pesco page on Facebook.com, post dated March 21, 2013 at 2:19 pm (accessed January 31, 2016)
3. Paul Pesco Sits Down with AMS – Paul Pesco AMS Interview @YouTube.com Retrieved April 1, 2014.
4. "Biography". Jango. Retrieved November 11, 2013.
5. "C+C Music Factory Biography". Billboard. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
6. Waugh, Lisa. "Paul Pesco – Musician Extraordinaire". Rock World Magazine. Archived from the original on October 12, 2013. Retrieved November 11, 2013.
7. Baltin, Steve. "Daryl Hall Finds Happiness in a 'Very F-ed Up World'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
8. Paul Pesco post, January 6, 2014 at 6:52 am (retrieved January 31, 2016)
9. Paul Pesco post, January 6, 2014 at 7:45 am (retrieved January 31, 2016)
10. Paul Pesco post, January 6, 2014 at 4:47 pm (retrieved January 31, 2016)
11. "Pod X3 Live: I'm a believer!". Line6. Retrieved November 11, 2013.
12. "Paul Pesco". Fishman Pickups. Archived from the original on June 6, 2013. Retrieved November 11, 2013.
13. "Paul Pesco". K for Musicians. QSC Audio Products. Retrieved November 11, 2013.
14. Paul Pesco- "The Politics of Love" single @Discogs.com Retrieved December 21, 2013.

External links

• Paul Pesco fanpage on Facebook