Al Germano

Al Germano has been around music his whole life. His main influence was his mother Roslyn. Being brought up in a divorced family with his three older siblings, Al’s mother had to work day and night to support the family. Her chosen field was the piano, teaching by day and performing by night. At the age of 5, Al was introduced to another type of music that had a monumental impact on him. As Al tells it, ”One day, my older brother was playing the “Meet The Beatles” record. I remember lying under an old upright stereo that we had and listening to the album over and over. I remember looking at the album cover and being completely enamored with it. The silhouettes of all 4 of them were etched in my mind forever. To this day, that is still my favorite album cover.” It was not long before Al picked Ringo as his favorite Beatle. He began learning the drums on and old Ludwig set that his brother had in the basement. Using the album as the teacher, it was not long before Al had the basic rock beat down. When Al entered the 4th grade, a complete array of musical instruments was there for the choosing. He settled on the trumpet and began taking lessons and playing in the 5th grade band. It was in this band that Al got his first performing experience in front of fairly large crowds. While continuing to play the trumpet, Al also took piano from a neighborhood teacher. By high school the trumpet had ceased and so did the formal piano lessons. It was at that time that he got perhaps the most important musical knowledge of all. After coming home from a weekend night out with friends, Al would sit and play piano until the early hours of the morning. His mother would be coming home from work at that time and she would sit with him and teach. As Al remembers, ”My mother really took me from the note-reading kind of playing into the realm of feelings and emotions. She taught me the Blues and explained the history of them. She showed me how rock and roll was basically derived from the Blues. It was ultimately a combination of those nights learning music with my mother and the love struck teenage years that somehow propelled me into songwriting.”