Meco
Encyclopedia
Meco is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 and musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

, as well as the name of a band or production team based around him. Meco is best known for his 1977 space disco
Space disco
Space disco is a term used to describe the fusion of disco music with futuristic themes, sounds and visuals, which was popular in the late 1970s...

 version of the Star Wars theme from his album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk
Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk
Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk is a disco album by Meco released in 1977. The album remakes various themes and songs from the Star Wars soundtrack into disco tunes. A single from the album entitled "Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band" was released, and hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on...

; both the single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 and album were certified platinum
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...

 in the U.S.

Biography

Meco Monardo was born in Johnsonburg, Pennsylvania
Johnsonburg, Pennsylvania
Johnsonburg is a borough in Elk County, Pennsylvania, northeast of Pittsburgh and south of Buffalo, New York, in a productive farming and lumbering region. Paper mills were once common here, and Domtar still maintains a paper mill there today. In 1910, 4,334 people lived here...

 to parents of Italian descent, and building model ships, science fiction and movies were some of his boyhood preoccupations. His father played the valve trombone in a small Italian band, and through him Meco got his first musical education. Meco wanted to play the drums, but his father convinced him that the trombone was the right instrument, and at nine that was the instrument which he was to stay with, however, for Meco the slide trombone was his choice, troublesome as it was for the small statured boy to extend the slide fully at first. He joined the high school band while still attending grammar school. At 17, he won a scholarship to the Eastman School of Music
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...

 in Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...

, which provided him with a solid classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

 and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 music education. There, together with his two friends Chuck Mangione
Chuck Mangione
Charles Frank "Chuck" Mangione is an American flugelhorn player and composer who achieved international success in 1977 with his jazz-pop single, "Feels So Good." Mangione has released more than thirty albums since 1960.-Early life and career:...

 and Ron Carter
Ron Carter
Ron Carter is an American jazz double-bassist. His appearances on over 2,500 albums make him one of the most-recorded bassists in jazz history, along with Milt Hinton, Ray Brown and Leroy Vinnegar. Carter is also an acclaimed cellist who has recorded numerous times on that...

, he started the Eastman School of Music Jazz Band
Jazz band
A jazz band is a musical ensemble that plays jazz music. Jazz bands usually consist of a rhythm section and a horn section, in the early days often trumpet, trombone, and clarinet with rhythm section of piano, banjo, bass or tuba, and drums.-Eras:SwingDuring the swing era in the mid-twentieth...

. When he enrolled at West Point, he also played in the Cadet Band.

Out of the army Meco moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and joined Kai Winding
Kai Winding
Kai Chresten Winding was a popular Danish-born American trombonist and jazz composer. He is well known for a successful collaboration with fellow trombonist J. J. Johnson.-Biography:...

 in his four-trombone band, and then from 1965 to 1974 he went on as a studio musician. Originally not inclined towards pop music, Meco's heart changed when he heard Petula Clark
Petula Clark
Petula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...

's "Downtown
Downtown (Petula Clark song)
"Downtown" is a pop song composed by Tony Hatch which, as recorded by Petula Clark, became an international hit – No. 1 in the US and No. 2 in the UK – at the end of 1964.-Original recording:...

". He began doing arrangement
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...

s, for example the horn section
Horn section
In music, a horn section can refer to several groups of musicians. It can refer to the musicians in a symphony orchestra who play the horn . In a British-style brass band it refers to the tenor horn players. In popular music, it can also refer to a small group of wind instrumentalists who augment a...

 on Tommy James
Tommy James
Tommy James is an American pop-rock musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer, best known as leader of the 1960s rock band Tommy James and the Shondells.-Early life and career:...

' "Crystal Blue Persuasion
Crystal Blue Persuasion
"Crystal Blue Persuasion" is a 1969 song originally recorded by Tommy James and the Shondells and composed by Eddie Gray, Tommy James and Mike Vale....

" and the Neil Diamond
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....

 series of Coke
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...

 commercials. As a session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...

 he played the trombone with acts like Tommy James
Tommy James
Tommy James is an American pop-rock musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer, best known as leader of the 1960s rock band Tommy James and the Shondells.-Early life and career:...

, Diana Ross
Diana Ross
Diana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...

 and David Barretto. Although Meco focused on producing in the late 1970s, he contracted the horns and performed on Diana Ross' 1980 album Diana
Diana (album)
diana is a 1980 album by American R&B and soul singer Diana Ross, released by Motown. Her 11th studio album, it was, and still is, the biggest-selling studio collection of Ross' career.-Conception:...

as a favor to producer (and neighbor) Nile Rodgers
Nile Rodgers
Nile Gregory Rodgers is an American musician, producer, composer, arranger, and guitarist.-Biography:...

. His solo on the single "I'm Coming Out
I'm Coming Out
"I'm Coming Out" is a hit single released by Motown singer Diana Ross in 1980, written and produced by Chic members Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers for her album diana .-Background:...

" is notable because of the rarity of trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...

 features on post-big-band era pop records.
Around 1973, Meco, Tony Bongiovi
Tony Bongiovi
Tony Bongiovi is a record producer and recording engineer with expertise in Electrical & Acoustical Engineering. He helped to remodel an old building in Manhattan—once a power plant for Edison, and later a television studio—into the Power Station recording studio in 1977.Bongiovi was born in the...

, and a third person formed the production company Disco Corporation of America, and from 1974 to 1976 Meco worked as a record producer. The team of Meco, Bongiovi, Jay Ellis, and Harold Wheeler produced the 1974 Gloria Gaynor
Gloria Gaynor
Gloria Gaynor is an American singer, best known for the disco era hits; "I Will Survive" , "Never Can Say Goodbye" , "Let Me Know " and "I Am What I Am" .-Early career:Gaynor was a singer with the Soul...

 hit "Never Can Say Goodbye
Never Can Say Goodbye
"Never Can Say Goodbye" is a song written by Clifton Davis and originally recorded by The Jackson 5. Released as a single in 1971, it was one of the group's most successful songs...

". Carol Douglas
Carol Douglas
Carol Douglas is an American singer whose hit "Doctor's Orders" was a pioneer track in the disco genre.-Early life and acting career:...

' "Doctor's Orders
Doctor's Orders (song)
"Doctor's Orders" is a song written by Roger Cook, Roger Greenaway and Geoff Stephens which in 1974 was a hit in the UK for Sunny of Sue and Sunny; in the US the song was a hit for Carol Douglas.-Sunny version:...

" was among the other productions of that period.

According to Meco:
"When disco was new, it was fresh and exciting because it was different. But pretty soon it became too cookie-cutter and wore itself out."
Meco temporarily left the music industry in 1985. After three years of "doing nothing but playing golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

" he started to work as a commodity broker
Commodity broker
A commodity broker is a firm or individual who executes orders to buy or sell commodity contracts on behalf of clients and charges them a commission. A firm or individual who trades for his own account is called a trader. Commodity contracts include futures, options, and similar financial...

 in Florida.

Star Wars theme

On 25 May 1977, Meco watched the feature film Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...

on its opening day. By the second day, 26 May 1977, he had watched it four times, and he watched it several more times that weekend. He then got the idea to make a disco version of the score by John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...

. He contacted Neil Bogart
Neil Bogart
Neil Bogart was an American record executive. He is perhaps best known as the founder of Casablanca Records, with Peter Guber....

 at Casablanca Records
Casablanca Records
Casablanca Records was an American record label started by Neil Bogart, who partnered with Cecil Holmes, Larry Harris, and Buck Reingold in 1973, and based in Los Angeles. The label was formed after all of them had left Buddah Records and secured financing by Warner Bros. Records to start the venture...

, but only after the original score had become a huge success did Bogart agree to help Meco realize his idea. Contact was established with Millennium Records
Millennium Records
Millennium Records originally started at 3 West 57th Street New York in 1977, and was distributed by Neil Bogart's Casablanca label. The R&B group Brooklyn Dreams. Their artist was likely electronic music pioneer Meco, whose disco cover of John Williams "Star Wars/Cantina Band" cues from Star Wars...

, then a Casablanca subsidiary, and this became Meco's first record company. Here Meco rejoined with Tony Bongiovi and he was also able to bring in Harold Wheeler who had also been part of the team behind "Never Can Say Goodbye" in 1974. Lance Quinn was also part of the Meco team, and the different roles played by the four musicians is described by Meco himself in a 1999 interview with his fan web site:
In a matter of just three weeks they arranged and recorded Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk
Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk
Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk is a disco album by Meco released in 1977. The album remakes various themes and songs from the Star Wars soundtrack into disco tunes. A single from the album entitled "Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band" was released, and hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on...

. Although the album was nominated for "Best Instrumental Pop performer" in 1977, the award ultimately went to John Williams.

The band Meco

For a period of four months there was even a show band assembled to perform to Meco's disco music in public venues. However, the band was not involved in the making of the music. This initiative was organized by Norby Walters, a booking agent for discos. The band members (pictured in this article) toured the U.S. and Canada as a high energy show band called Lemon Tree. Norby Walters booked and also managed the band prior to the Star Wars project. Band personnel was Carmine Giovinazzo, Stan Glogicheski, Tommy Rocco, Tony Abruzzo, and Tony "Butch" Gerace.

Other soundtracks become "Meco-ized"

In the fall of 1977, Meco's second album was released. It was another rearranged science fiction movie soundtrack, Encounters Of Every Kind
Encounters Of Every Kind
Encounters Of Every Kind is an album by Meco, released in 1978. It was recorded after the success of Meco's platinum-selling album Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk, and in a similar fashion to that album, contained disco-styled interpretations of the original score from the film Close Encounters...

, based on John Williams music for the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, and Cary Guffey...

, from which three singles were released: "Topsy", "Meco's Theme", and "Theme From Close Encounters".

Meco's third album came in early 1978, and this time it was the music from
Musical selections in The Wizard of Oz
The songs from the 1939 musical fantasy film The Wizard of Oz have taken their place among the most famous and instantly recognizable American popular songs of all time, and the film's principal song, Over the Rainbow, is perhaps the most famous song ever written for a film. Music and lyrics were...

 The Wizard Of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...

which got transformed into a disco album by the same name, as Meco described: "It is my best work bar none." From this album came the hit single "Themes from The Wizard of Oz: Over the Rainbow/We're Off to See the Wizard".

In the fall of 1978, Millennium merged with RCA
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...

. Since he had developed a deep-bonded working relationship with Neil Bogart and other staff at Casablanca Records (Millennium and Casablanca having cooperated closely), Meco decided to move to Casablanca.

Casablanca released the fourth Meco album, Superman & Other Galactic Heroes, featuring two hit singles, "Superman Theme" and "Love Theme From Superman". This was yet another Meco makeover of an original John Williams score.

In 1979, the fifth album, Moondancer, was released, and with it the hit singles "Moondancer", "Grazing In The Grass
Grazing in the Grass
"Grazing in the Grass" is an instrumental composed by Philemon Hou and first recorded by the South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela. It is recognizable by its prominent cowbell part. Released in the United States as a single in 1968, it hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.-Recording:"Grazing in...

", and "Devil's Delight".

In 1980, Meco's sixth album, Music From Star Trek & Music From The Black Hole, was released, featuring the song "Theme From Star Trek". The movie Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a 1979 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. It is the first film based on the Star Trek television series. The film is set in the twenty-third century, when a mysterious and immensely powerful alien cloud called V'Ger approaches the Earth,...

(1979
1979 in film
The year 1979 in film involved some significant events.- Major events :* March 5 - Production begins on Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.* May 25 - Alien, a landmark of the science fiction genre, is released....

) featured an original soundtrack composed by Jerry Goldsmith
Jerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....

.

The last album which Meco made for Casablanca, his seventh, which came out in 1981, was The American Werewolf In London, based on the soundtrack from the 1981 movie An American Werewolf in London
An American Werewolf in London
An American Werewolf in London is a 1981 British-American horror film, written and directed by John Landis. It stars David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, and Griffin Dunne....

. After this Meco's tenure with Casablanca was over, and he signed up with RCA Records
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...

.

Albums

  • Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk
    Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk
    Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk is a disco album by Meco released in 1977. The album remakes various themes and songs from the Star Wars soundtrack into disco tunes. A single from the album entitled "Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band" was released, and hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on...

    (1977)
  • Encounters Of Every Kind
    Encounters Of Every Kind
    Encounters Of Every Kind is an album by Meco, released in 1978. It was recorded after the success of Meco's platinum-selling album Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk, and in a similar fashion to that album, contained disco-styled interpretations of the original score from the film Close Encounters...

    (1977)
  • Meco Plays The Wizard of Oz
    Meco Plays The Wizard of Oz
    Meco Plays The Wizard of Oz is a studio album that was released in 1979. None of the singles charted, and the album sold around 400,000 copies.-Track listing:#"Over the Rainbow" - ...

    (1978)
  • Superman & Other Galactic Heroes
    Superman & Other Galactic Heroes
    Superman and Other Galactic Heroes is the fourth album from a series of film-inspired disco records, by composer and producer Meco Monardo. It was the first Meco record to be released on Casablanca Records, and again features orchestral arrangements by Harold Wheeler...

    (1978)
  • Moondancer (1979)
  • Meco Plays Music from The Empire Strikes Back (10" EP
    Extended play
    An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

     – 1980)
  • Christmas In The Stars: Star Wars Christmas Album
    Christmas in the Stars
    Christmas in the Stars: Star Wars Christmas Album is a record album produced in 1980 by RSO Records. It features recordings of Star Wars-themed Christmas songs and stories about a droid factory where the robots make toys year-round for "S. Claus"....

    (1980)
  • Music From Star Trek and Music From The Black Hole (1980)
  • Across The Galaxy (1980)
  • The American Werewolf In London (1981)
  • Pop Goes The Movies (1982)
  • Swingtime's Greatest Hits (1982)
  • Ewok Celebration (1983)
  • Hooked on Instrumentals (1985)
  • The Best of Meco (1997)
  • The Complete Star Wars Collection (2000)
  • Star Wars Party (2005) (This release is only sold on the Internet, a retail release with identical musical content was released as Music Inspired By Star Wars)

Charted singles

Year Song Title Artist Credit Billboard
Hot 100
peak
1977 "Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band" Meco 1
1978 "Theme from Close Encounters" Meco 25
1978 "Themes from The Wizard of Oz:
Over the Rainbow/
We're Off to See the Wizard"
Meco 35
1980 "Empire Strikes Back (Medley)" Meco 18
1980 "Love Theme from Shogun
Shogun (TV miniseries)
Shōgun is an American television miniseries based on the namesake novel by James Clavell. As with the novel, the title is often shown as Shōgun in order to conform to Hepburn romanization. The miniseries was broadcast over five nights, between September 15 and September 19, 1980 on NBC in the...

(Mariko's Theme)"
Meco 70
1980 "What Can You Get a
Wookiee for Christmas
(If He Already Owns a Comb?)"
The Star Wars Intergalactic
Droid Choir & Chorale
69
1981 "Summer of 81" The Cantina Band 81
1981 "Blue Moon" Meco 106
1982 "Pop Goes the Movies Part I" Meco 35
1982 "Big Band Melody" Meco 101
1983 "Ewok Celebration
Ewok Celebration
Ewok Celebration is a musical theme recurring in the ending of the Star Wars film Return of the Jedi. It was composed by John Williams while his son Joseph Williams wrote the lyrics...

"
Meco 60

Additional singles

  • "Topsy"
  • "Meco's Theme"
  • "Superman Theme"
  • "Love Theme From Superman"
  • "Moondancer"
  • "Grazing In The Grass
    Grazing in the Grass
    "Grazing in the Grass" is an instrumental composed by Philemon Hou and first recorded by the South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela. It is recognizable by its prominent cowbell part. Released in the United States as a single in 1968, it hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.-Recording:"Grazing in...

    "
  • "Devil's Delight"
  • "Theme From Star Trek" (1980)
  • "The Raiders March and Cairo Nights" (1981)
  • "Anything Goes / Music Makers" (1984)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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