Jon Oliva
| Jon Oliva | |
|---|---|
Oliva in 2007
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | John Nicholas Oliva |
| Born |
July 22, 1960 The Bronx, New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | Heavy metal, progressive metal, power metal, symphonic metal |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, piano, drums, violin, cello |
| Years active | 1978–present |
| Associated acts | Savatage, Doctor Butcher, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Jon Oliva's Pain, Circle II Circle |
| Website | www |
John Nicholas "Jon" Oliva (born July 22, 1960) is an American composer, multi-instrumentalist and singer. He is best known as the founder of and keyboardist and lead vocalist for the band Savatage. His younger brother was Criss Oliva, the lead guitarist and co-founder of Savatage. Since 1996 he has also been a music composer, musician and vocalist in Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Producer Paul O'Neill, who has worked with many of the rock world's biggest acts, refers to Oliva in numerous interviews as the single greatest vocalist/musician he has ever worked with.
"My dad is a piano player, and we always had a piano in the house, so I started messing around with that. I was probably like 11 or 12. I was very impatient, so I kind of blew that by. There were [also] guitars around the house. It was just a gradual thing - a little bit of everything here and there. We bought a bass, because we had guitars, piano and drums - the one thing we didn't have was a bass. So we went out and bought this shitty, teardrop-shaped, green bass, probably the ugliest bass in the whole world. It had black nylon strings - it was really awful. The strings [were] like six inches off the fretboard, but we had a bass, and I started dabbling with that. It was just a little bit of everything at one time."
Jon and Criss's family moved around a lot during their childhood, living in California for four years until moving to Florida with his family in 1976. Much like his brother Criss, Jon found music his calling during the family's time in California. Starting off with his father's piano, Jon dabbled in guitars, pianos and drums before buying "a really ugly bass". Jon and Criss continued their musical exploits and played a block party, playing Kiss, Deep Purple and ZZ Top covers. Although originally the guitar player of the brothers, Jon quickly realized Criss's talent was superior to his and stuck to singing and swapped with his brother and played bass.
Having been kicked out of high school in 1978, Jon needed a job, and was lucky enough to join a band called Metropolis, a band playing Bad Company and Alice Cooper cover songs. This gave Jon his first touring experience as the band played bars and clubs in various parts of Florida, but Jon quickly grew tired of the bars and clubs, leaving the band later that year.
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