Vito had his most complete rock experience
when he
became lead guitarist of Fleetwood Mac for four years,
starting in 1987.
“It was the kind of experience that can’t compare to
anything else,” Vito reminisced. “Here was a situation
where I wasn’t just being hired as support, but was
being inducted into the group as a member.”
It was what he had worked so hard to achieve musi-
cally, and yet he wasn’t prepared for the business side
of rock.
“It’s not a pretty business at all,” Vito revealed. “We
see the glory side, the artists and great music, but there’s
an entirely different animal on the other side of the desk.”
For Vito, staying in touch with reality was as impor-
tant as staying in touch with his music. At a Jersey club
he had been awed by an unknown Jimi Hendrix playing
a right-handed guitar left-handed. Vito saw him again,
after Hendrix had become a guitar god, at major Philly
venues. But quickly, Hendrix was gone, snuffed out by a
drug overdose.
Vito calls himself a survivor.
“Fame is not necessarily a good thing,” he said. A
lot of young kids don’t realize that, sometimes until it’s
too late.”
Vito has important people in his life: Aimee, his wife
of 30 years, and their children, Francesco, 29, a chef,
and Ara, 19, a pianist, actress and singer. They live in
Franklin, Tenn., a suburb of Nashville.
Recently, Vito created a new persona, King Paris. He
and his band, The Hip-notics, accompanied by belly
dancers, fuse the sounds of East and West, blues and
rock, new and old, in what’s called ‘world music.’
Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” with a touch of sitar?
Yeah, that’s it.
“I’m having so much fun with this,” Vito said. So,
apparently, are his club audiences, according to a review
on pureguitarmagazine.com.
Predicting Vito’s future might require King Paris’
crystal ball. There’s the work with the Mick Fleetwood
Blues Band, solo work and there are still things he’d
like to accomplish.
“I could stand more exposure,” he said. “I would
feel comfortable with having a record on my own that
gets out there. Maybe a song in a movie that gets rec-
ognized for the level I know personally that I’m at now.
You just can’t always make these things happen; I still
pray about that.”
KEITH RICHARDS:
“Keith
was my personal hero. He
was a genius at creating
musical signatures that
are timeless.”
CHUCK BERRY:
“He inte-
grated black with white
in music, much the same
way Elvis did.”
BOB SEGER:
“Bob should
never be underrated as a
tasteful songwriter and as
a guitar player.”
MUDDY WATERS:
“He
influenced the whole
Chicago scene, Chuck
Berry and the natural pro-
gression that followed.”
ERIC CLAPTON:
“He has
the most successful career
as a guitarist in history.
He influenced more players
than any other guitar player.”
PETER GREEN, FOUNDER
OF FLEETWOOD MAC:
“He was the most authentic
white blues player, in my
mind, ever to come along.”
BONNIE RAITT:
“We’re the
same age, we both started in
the Northeast and we both
play slide guitar. We have
a lot in common with the
people we like musically
and grew up listening to.
We’re still friends.”
Rick Vito
on guitar legends
For more info ...
Visit Rick Vito online @
or
W
e’re at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City in 1971, and
here’s (DJ) Ed Hurst,” Vito recalled. “He’s hold-
ing the event. So I go up to him and explain I’m from the
area and on my first tour with Delaney & Bonnie. He
said, ‘Oh, if you’re from the area, then I guess you know
who I am.’ I joked, ‘Yeah, you’re Jerry Blavat.’”
Vito was a senior speech and theatre major when he
decided, six credits shy of his degree, to go pro full-time.
He had played in bands since his days in Johnny and the
Inspirations, a doo-wop group at Cardinal O’Hara High
School in Springfield, Delaware County. While at Kutz-
town, he formed the Vito-Valenti Blues Band with singer/
blues harpist Rick Valenti. They played at The Hullabaloo
in Reading, the Third Eye and Illick’s Mill in Bethlehem,
and at fraternity parties and student union gatherings at
Lehigh University and KU. They also did a New York
recording session produced by Todd Rungren, another
suburban Philadelphian.
Vito introduced himself to and played his tape for
Delaney & Bonnie Bramlett before a Philadelphia show
while still a KU student. Then he took his guitar with
him for one of their performances at Lehigh University.
They invited him to sit in.
For Rick Vito, musician, the earth moved.
Only weeks out of KU, Vito was off to Los Angeles,
then touring nationally with Delaney & Bonnie.
Bob Seger, in album notes, calls Vito’s slide guitar on
“Like a Rock” the best guitar overdub he ever heard.
Millions of people have heard the song on Chevrolet
truck ads. Vito loved the exposure.
“It was always fun,” he said. “At home, watching TV,
my wife would reach over and say, ‘There you are.’ That’s
really cool. I love it.”
“
PHOTO BY THOMAS SHILLEA ’69
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Winter 2013
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TOWER
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