The Brian Gari Story

BRIAN GARI is celebrating over 50 years of songwriting & has written almost 900 songs. He had his first song published at 15 and recorded at 17. He signed with Vanguard Records in 1975 recording for them through 1976. For the next few years he performed his songs in New York comedy and cabaret clubs such as the Ballroom, Reno Sweeney, Catch a Rising Star, the Improv, the Comic Strip and the Copa. All along he was writing what was to become his first Broadway musical, LATE NITE COMIC, which debuted in October of 1987 at the Ritz Theatre (now the Walter Kerr.) The album made Top 10 for film and show albums at Tower Records. His songs have been performed and/or recorded by such artists as Margaret Whiting, the Tokens, Jana Robbins , Kaye Ballard, Lesley Gore & Andrea Marcovicci. Brian conceived A HARD TIME TO BE SINGLE , a musical revue which premiered in October of 1990 and had successful runs at Don't Tell Mama, Eighty-Eights and Steve McGraw's in New York City with a CD released as well. Brian then recorded his first CD SONGS FOR FUTURE MUSICALS . LOVE ONLINE was Brian's 1997 CD about a romance that ensues via the online-computer experience. The long awaited follow up, I CAN'T MAKE YOU FREE was released in 1999. His next release, BRIAN SINGS WILSON, was a salute to Beach Boys composer Brian Wilson and has received rave reviews. Coincidentally, Brian became the consulting producer and composer for the E True Hollywood Story of the Beach Boys for the Entertainment Television Network. He even recorded a Christmas CD entitled THE MAN WITH ALL THE TOYS in true Beach Boys tradition with songs from both Brians. His next release was entitled PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED and featured songs that were written and recorded over a period of fifteen years. Brian renewed his friendship with the great NEIL SEDAKA and produced a collection of Sedaka rarities released under the title THE BROOKLYN DEMOS. His dedication to Sedaka continued with writing the book for the box set for The Bear Family label in Germany. His longtime appreciation of the music of Brazil resulted in an exciting collection of songs (including 11 by Brian) called HERE I COME BRAZIL . His next CD celebrated the music of "WE'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN" songwriters ROGER NICHOLS & PAUL WILLIAMS .

Brian's first book, WE BOMBED IN NEW LONDON The Inside Story of the Broadway musical Late Nite Comic, was published by Bear Manor Media. To coincide with this publication, a 20th anniversary all star edition of LATE NITE COMIC was released featuring 17 of the biggest names of Broadway.

2010 saw the release of a collection of songs that were getting enormous amounts of attention on YouTube & Facebook. HE'S AN OLD CAT features guest artists Pete Anders (The Trade Winds/Innocence/Videls) and Don Ciccone (The Critters/4 Seasons.)

Brian has produced over a dozen CDs & DVDs on his grandfather, Eddie Cantor, as well as writing a new musical about him which is previewed in Brian's CD THE UNPRODUCED EDDIE CANTOR MUSICAL . In 2012 with the success of his first book, Brian had his second book published by Bear Manor almost by accident. He had just remarried and within six months, his wife (a nurse) recognized some disturbing signs of heart trouble. In just two days, he was undergoing open heart surgery which saved his life. The book, A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO MY STRESS TEST, tells that story and its connection to his famous grandfather.

Later in the year, Brian was reminiscing about all the famous people he had encounters with during his lifetime & decided to write a book about those experiences. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE CELEBRITY KIND (Bear Manor Media) has over 30 stories that include people like Brian Wilson, Neil Sedaka, Little Richard, Dick Clark, The Beatles (including a special John Lennon story), Johnny Mathis, Robin Williams, Soupy Sales and of course, Eddie Cantor!

Early in 2014, Brian was going thru some old tapes & found a near perfect concert from 1978 that featured many rare songs he performed, including the first version of "The Coffee Shoppe" that Margaret Whiting later recorded. LIVE AT UNCLE LULU'S was released to rave reviews on Amazon.

In 2015 Brian released a collection of 27 tracks on a CD entitled COVER ME--THE SONGS OF BRIAN GARI that features major artists who have done his songs from 1967 to 2014. These include Kaye Ballard, The Tokens, Karen Ziemba, Leah Kunkel, Lesley Miller, Steve Ross, Arthur Siegel & Don Ciccone (from The Critters & The Four Seasons.)

The loss of Don Ciccone and Alan Colmes in 2016 & 2017 inspired Brian to release an album that Don wanted to have out--the demos from the 70s and later that included a rare interview with Alan Colmes. Brian decided to orchestrate the songs resulting in the CD DON CICCONE SINGS BRIAN GARI

2018 began his new collaborations with arranger/producer extraordinaire Peter Millrose. The team produced a gorgeous collection of Gari compositions for his new bride. JEANNE'S ALBUM, with its rave reviews, led to two more collections: NAMES VOLUME ONE and NAMES VOLUME TWO. They are currently working on yet another collection for early 2022.

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