SG History 10101 Feb 2008
SG History 101 - Nick Bruno
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One thing that makes gospel music unique among music genres is that many of its foremost practitioners not only feel called to be in it, but a good number of those artists feel led to give back to the genre as their lives go on. This month I will examine the career of one of gospel music’s most talented and dedicated artists, and not only look at what he did in gospel music, but what he is still doing to contribute to the betterment and future development of the genre.  Keystone Quartet, ca. 1967. They are clockwise: Richard Sterban, Joe Bonsall, Ron Kelly, and Nick Bruno. Along the way, Nick found something else he would keep for the rest of his life, a young woman named Cece. They married in February of 1965, and are a happy couple to this day. In 1967, Richard Sterban, who sang bass for the Keystone Quartet when Nick joined them, invited Nick to return to the Keystones to start that quartet back up again. Richard moved the quartet from Pennsylvania to Buffalo, NY, eventually recruiting fellow young quartet enthusiasts Joe Bonsall and Dave Will into the quartet. But the Keystones found that gospel quartet singing could be a tough way to make a living, and their struggles forced Nick to leave the quartet to take a job at a book bindery in Buffalo. Would Nick ever resume his dream of playing piano for a gospel quartet? A few months later, Nick took Cece to a gospel concert that featured the Prophets Quartet and the Rebels Quartet. Both those groups were major groups earlier in the decade, but their fortunes had tailed off somewhat during the course of the Sixties. Still, Nick was excited to see them, and even more excited when he spent some time with the groups prior to the concert at the rehearsal hall. The members of the Rebels asked Nick to play piano for a few of the impromptu songs they were singing. Little did anyone know (for they weren’t told) that longtime Rebels’ pianist Jimmy Taylor was planning to leave the quartet, and as Taylor prodded Nick to play song after song, Nick was in effect auditioning for the Rebels Quartet piano job! Apparently Nick impressed the Rebels, for a few weeks later, their lead singer Jim Hamill invited Nick to a Cleveland restaurant to discuss Nick joining the Rebels. During the meeting, Nick received a phone call from Joe Moscheo, then the pianist for the Imperials. Seems that Moscheo was also contemplating leaving the Imperials, and he was asking Nick if he was interested in that job. A stunned Nick said he would consider it, then when asked by the Rebels about the phone call, was offered $25 a week more by the Rebels. Moscheo called again a few minutes later, and the Rebels raised the ante by another $25. Nick finally accepted the Rebels’ offer, but to this day wonders what he would have done if Moscheo had called a third time.  Coy Cook and the Senators, ca. 1971 L-R: Coy Cook, Calvin Runion, Dave Rowland, Mack Evans, and Nick Bruno Nick was becoming a pianist in demand, and while the Senators were in concert in Nashville with JD Sumner and the Stamps, the legendary Sumner offered Nick the piano job for his quartet. The Stamps were among the hottest quartets going at that time, and Nick gladly accepted the offer, thrilled again to be working with people like Sterban (who sang bass for the regular Stamps Quartet), and Kenny Hicks, who played bass for the Rebels when Nick was with them  JD Sumner and the Stamps w/Elvis, ca. 1971. (L-R): Bill Baize, Richard Sterban, Donnie Sumner, Elvis Presley, JD Sumner, Ed Enoch, and Nick Bruno. Still, by this time (fall 1971) Nick was getting weary of the road and the constant traveling, and he left the Stamps to work for former Couriers Quartet manager and baritone Don Baldwin at Baldwin’s recording studio in Mechanicsburg, PA. Nick enjoyed doing the studio work and mentoring younger singers. This work would plant a seed in Nick’s mind for future years. But in late 1972, when he and Baldwin drove down to Asheville, NC to see the Kingsmen Quartet in concert, Nick realized he still had the desire to play piano for a quartet. The Kingsmen were quickly rising in the gospel industry, energized by the recent addition of lead singer Jim Hamill to the quartet, another former colleague of Nick’s. Sensing Nick’s enthusiasm, and no doubt knowing his ability, Kingsmen owner and baritone Eldridge Fox offered Nick the piano job, which Nick accepted.  Kingsmen, ca. 1977. Top (L-R): Johnny Parrack, Jim Hamill, Eldridge Fox, Ray Dean Reese. Bottom(L-R): Gary Dillard, Jim McCauley, Nick Bruno. About that time Nick realized he was also in demand as a studio musician and producer, and during his off time with the Kingsmen he would play and produce on recording sessions in and around North Carolina. Nick also saw this as part of his musical calling, and though he tried his best to do both jobs, he eventually resigned from the Kingsmen to become the studio manager for the Mark Five Studios in Greenville, SC. Nick had the privilege to work there with such fine talents as Joe and Bill Huffman, Steve Mauldin, and the renowned Lari Goss. A good many of the gospel albums during that period were produced by Nick, and he would occasionally grace them with his fine piano work as well. One of Nick’s most gratifying moments was producing the album by former Kingsmen singer Squire Parsons that contained his big hit, “Beulah Land”. In 1980 Nick was playing on an album for Jimmie Davis that Marvin Norcross was producing for Canaan Records. After the first day of recording the album, Norcross died from a heart attack he suffered in his hotel room. Nick still has sad memories of that day, and remembers Norcross as a kind man who did a lot for gospel music. Norcross’ devotion to his work and the genre would influence Nick profoundly in later years. Not long afterward, Eldridge Fox enlisted Nick’s production skills for a live album that the Kingsmen recorded in Mount Vernon, Illinois. That album, “Live Naturally” was one of the most successful and influential albums in gospel music history featuring the song “Excuses”, a #1 song for 19 months, the second longest #1 song in gospel music history. It was the biggest of many hits Nick produced. In 1982, Nick wrote and produced the theme song and album for the World’s Fair, held that year in Knoxville, TN. He also in recent years has produced entertainment shows for country and gospel artists in Branson, MO learning many techniques he would later use to guide the careers of gospel artists of today. One of Nick’s most rewarding jobs in the past decade has been producing recordings for the Booth Brothers, one of today’s finest gospel artists. Nick’s experience, keyboard work, and guidance has been instrumental in the Booths rise to the top of the gospel music industry in recent years. In addition to the awards he’s won for his past accomplishments as an artist, Nick Bruno was inducted into the GMA Hall of Fame in 2000 as a member of the Kingsmen. He also was named Gospel Music’s Producer of the Year in 2007. One of his most recent album successes was with the Kingsmen (again) for producing their “Proven Time And Again” album which had a number one hit in “The Next Cloud” and a #2 hit in “Getcha To The Other Side”. Most recently, Nick has felt particularly called to give back to this gospel music business he’s loved so much for the past 45 years. He teaches seminars and mentors artists in addition to his producing, and he is involved with Homeland Entertainment in Gallatin, TN, where he works with such luminaries as Bill Traylor and Bob Jones in developing new gospel music talent and developing their careers. Since 2004, Nick has written monthly articles for SoGospelNews.com, speaking out on things that he truly feels help and hurt the gospel music industry. In short, Nick Bruno is part of a long line of gospel music people who’ve not only excelled as an artist, he has been among the top record producers in the field, and now has come full circle. Nick Bruno remembers people like the Couriers, JD Sumner, Jimmy Taylor, and Eldridge Fox being there for him when he needed a boost to fulfill his calling to be a part of gospel music, and now feels it’s his turn to return the favor, and be available to help the young artists today who are called as he was 45 years ago to devote their lives to gospel music. And finally Bob Jones has re-formed the Songfellows Quartet, which his father, an SGMA Hall of Famer, established in California back in the 1940s, and guess who plays piano for them now? That’s right, Nick Bruno a man who after four and a half decades, still loves to play and perform gospel music and loves to help other people do it as well in the tradition of so many of the gospel music greats. Nick can be reached by anyone for any reason at Reader Comments
One of the best articles you have written to date, John!Nick Bruno is one of my heroes. I first met him when The Keystone Quartet came to my home church, when he was 19 years old, and I have followed his career ever since. We are now preparing financially to use his services as producer for an up-coming project and are planning to be ready for that before the end of this year, Lord willing. Nick has been extremely kind to us, as has been his afore-mentioned sister, Marie, and his brother-in-law, Phil. All of our group members have come away from our visits with Nick impressed with the very real concern he has for up-and-coming groups, as well as his passion to help them to rise to the next level. I have discovered an old reel of tape of that very same 1963 performance at my home church (a copy of a copy, unfortunately, in very poor condition), and I am trying to restore it. I have promised an enhanced and restored CD of that concert to another member of that 1963 group (Frank Sanchez, a Pennsylvania Gospel Music Hall of Fame inductee who I was with for years in The Gabriels some 30 years ago), and I am doing my best to repair that material and make it somewhat listenable. But, I have been amazed to hear on that crude recording for myself how Nick, then still a teenager at 19, was still able to play rings around many of the better piano players of today, even when some of them are much older and supposedly more experienced. Amd, how wonderful that Nick is devoting his life to share the wisdom and gifts God has given Him with others, in order to help thier ministries and to honor His God. The only thing I was good at, when I was a teenager, was picking my heroes wisely.
Cliff Cerce
Honest, I believe that the longest running #1 song in gospel music history is "Learning To Lean" by the Blackwood Brothers in the 1970s.
Morning glory and evening grace, Giving the world a smile each day, john.sogospelnews.com Page 1 of 1 Comment Pages |
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SG History 101 - Nick Bruno
 Written: 02/01/2008  Author:  Category:
SG History 101
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