Dodging raindrops on a recent Saturday night, a diminutive dark-haired woman hauled a black case out of her car and headed up the stairway to Havana Nights, the bar at the Caribbean Court hotel. There she unpacked her sound equipment, sat down at the grand piano, and let loose her sizeable talent.
With perfect pitch, a bright, polished voice, and a vast repertoire, Lisa Addeo quickly beckoned her audience away from their table chatter and into her beloved world of song. Soon, her entertaining style and impressive piano had them dancing and swaying like they never wanted to leave.
Addeo’s chameleon-like vocal skills allow her to expertly cover classics from Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mercer and Dave Grusin as well as contemporary crowd-pleasers by The Eagles and Lady Gaga.
“I first started singing by humming along with my family in the car,” Addeo recalls. Her dad, the owner of an auto air-conditioning manufacturing company, and mother, assistant to the fire chief of Fort Lauderdale, raised Lisa and her two sisters in a household full of song.
“My parents both loved to sing and had very good voices,” says Addeo. “When we’d sing in the car, I started learning the words, then harmonizing. ‘Sentimental Journey’ was a big hit for us,” she joked.
Her mother arranged piano lessons for all the Addeo girls. Lisa’s first teacher, named Ms. Ragetz, was a very sweet, Barbie Doll look-alike with whom young Lisa was immediately enamored.
“Ms. Ragetz was so inspiring to me that I included a thank you to her in my very first CD’s liner notes.” Lisa continued to study piano through her youth, but cheerleading and tennis dominated most of her free time in high school.
“I mostly just played piano for my family, and people would always ask me to play when we were out to dinner. We’re Italian, so we would often eat out at Italian restaurants. As Italians, we like to eat, drink and sing, especially after a big dinner, so it was always, ‘Oh Lisa, won’t you please play for us? Or ‘Lisa, play us another song!’ I don’t think I ever got to eat dessert once in my life,” says Addeo.
It wasn’t until she was studying Business at Rollins College that she tested her voice on a real stage. When a girlfriend asked Addeo to accompany her to an audition for the musical “Godspell,” Lisa agreed to go lend her support. But then, Lisa auditioned herself and wound up getting the role her friend wanted. It wasn’t long after this experience that she changed her major from business to voice and became a classically trained vocalist.
While still in her senior year, her sister alerted her to an audition for back-up singers for Tony Chance, a big-time entertainer in Florida at the time. Lisa auditioned and landed the job. She was now a professional singer, performing every night with Tony Chance at The Brickyard.
Luck and timing favored her again when she was offered the chance to open for acerbic comedian Don Rickles at Harrah’s in Lake Tahoe. It was there she met Liberace’s manager, Seymour Heller, who urged her to move to California where, he believed; there were many more opportunities for her.
In L.A. she took a sales position with Strawberry Hill Music Publishing. “I was singing constantly but had to keep working. I remember I would ride my bike to the Beverly Hills Hotel every day and then take a taxi up this steep hill to the publishing company.”
Finding sales unappealing, she moved on to a job in advertising. She also signed with an agent, George Michaud, and joined the union; she is still a member today.
She was then introduced to booking agent Jim Byron whom she credits with showing her how to use mikes, tweak amps, and set up speakers.
And her dream piano mentor arrived in the form of Paul T. Smith, who performed regularly with Ella Fitzgerald. She also studied with Dick Grove while getting her master’s in music at The Grove School of Music in L.A.
A prolific composer, Addeo still remembers well the first song she wrote, a ballad called “Smile For Me,” co-created with Phillip Springer, who composed such classics as “Santa Baby” and “How Little We Know.” This song was first released in Sweden, putting her on the map in Europe where much of Addeo’s music continues to be popular, she says.
In addition to composing, recording and singing her original songs, Addeo also edits, masters, and produces her tracks and albums. A self-proclaimed computer nerd, Addeo maintains contact with her fans and releases new material by managing her own Facebook page and website, www.lisamusic.com. Impressively, Addeo channel was also approved by The Genome Project, allowing her music to be enjoyed by the masses on Pandora.
Addeo remembers her performances with Liberace in his Easter Show at Radio City Music Hall in 1986 as among her favorites. “Liberace was such an entertainer, and such a sweet, humble man. He never forgot where he came from and treated everyone with respect and kindness,” Addeo says. “And how can you beat watching his entrance each night: Liberace popping out of a giant pink Faberge egg.”
She also remembers fondly being the official voice for ARCO, The Atlantic Ridgefield Company, and getting to play the “ARCO Olympics,” the Jesse Owens Games. “It was so incredible to play in the arena and be a part of that production with Carl Lewis and all the children coming in, watching my keyboard surrounded by piano-shaped neon tubing dropping onto the stage as I walked up to it to play,” she says. “That was really something”
Addeo also remembered fondly her performances at Caesar’s Las Vegas and the nine-foot Steinway she played during her run at the Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. But she seems just as content behind the ivories at Havana Nights on Vero’s South Beach.
A resident of Palm Beach County, she’ll be commuting regularly to Vero Beach to play and sing in the intimate setting of the bar’s new Saturday Night Supper Club, where music lovers can enjoy her sure-fire star power from a spot at the bar or a cozy table in the corner. Her next performance there will be this Saturday, Oct. 4.
