News
John Tesh Set To Emcee And
Perform At Awards Luncheon
Composer, pianist and former Entertainment Tonight anchor John
Tesh will host and perform at the NARM Awards Luncheon on Tuesday, March 11 at 12:30 PM.
Tesh's music represents the kind of person he is: complex,
emotional, honest, energetic, and soulful. These qualities shine through on his first new
studio album in four years, Avalon, based on his second PBS concert (John Tesh: The Avalon
Concert) set to air in March. Reviews say he wows the audience with lush arrangements and
orchestration.
Avalon follows the breakthrough success of the gold-certified
Live At Red Rocks (which sold over 800,000 copies and reached #1 on Billboard's New Age
chart) and its companion long-form home video (which sold more than 100,000 copies and
reached #1 on Billboard's Music Video chart) and introduced Tesh and his music to a much
broader audience via its airing on PBS.
Tesh's family, his roots and the environment around him
influence his music. He has written songs for his hometown ("Garden City"), his
wife, actress Connie Sellecca, ("Concetta") and his children ("In A Child's
Eyes" and "Song For Prima"). He has written sports-themed
songs--"Roundball Rock" (which NBC uses on telecasts of its pro basketball
games), "The Games" and "Gridiron Dreams."
The songs from Avalon were inspired by time spent in Europe,
particularly Italy, which can be heard in tracks such as "Spanish Steps" and
"L'Aquila."
Musically, Tesh combines his education in Classical music
with a love of Rock and Jazz to create a unique and powerful sound that cannot be simply
categorized as New Age. His songs build steadily to exploding crescendos and are
complimented with electric and acoustic guitar, drum, violin, sax, and piano solos.
He grew up in a musical family and started playing piano and
trumpet at age six. He played with the New York Symphonic Orchestra and studied at
Julliard. At North Carolina State, his classes focused on both music and communication.
Communication prevailed. He became an investigative reporter
and news anchor, eventually land-ing at New York's CBS affiliate. Hired as a sports
commentator to cover the Tour de France bike race, he composed original music to accompany
the race. The uplifting, instrumental music garnered a flood of calls from curious viewers
who asked where they could buy a copy. From that point until 10 years later when he
departed Entertainment Tonight, Tesh juggled two careers.
After releasing Tour de France and Garden City on Private
Music, he founded his own record label, which, after several years of indie distribution,
has now come under the PGD umbrella. Several sports-themed albums followed, including The
Games and Ironman: Music From The Ironman Triathlon.
He won Emmys for "Best Musical Composition" in
1983, 1987 and 1991. He has received a number of NARM's own Best Seller Awards over the
past few years. Tesh has also released the gold-certified A Romantic Christmas and its
follow-up A Family Christmas, as well as Sax By The Fire, Sax On The Beach and Discovery.
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