Friday, November 11, 2011


Vinny Vincent



Born Vincent Cusano on August 6, 1952 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Cusano picked up guitar at a very early age, inspired by bluegrass and rock n' roll music. Throughout his years in high school and college he played with several area bands - including one with a high school buddy by the name of Rich Creadore that later pursued a career in the music business. In the 70's, he recorded an album with the band Treasure, worked as session man (for Laura Nyro, Dan Hartman) and wrote music for the TV show ‘Happy Days'. At the beginning of the 80’s he put together an heavy metal band, Warrior, when, through a mutual friend, he entered in contact with KISS founder and bass player Gene Simmons. Simmons invited Vinnie to co-write some songs and – right after Ace Frehley decision to leave the band - to play lead guitar on the 1982’ ‘Creatures of the Night’ tour (the last masked) with the name of Vinnie Vincent. In the following studio album, Lick It Up (Kiss' first record in 3 years to obtain gold certification in the U.S) Vincent co-wrote eight songs out of ten including the hit single Lick It Up. The subsequent tour was a great success bringing KISS back to success also in the U.S. Right after the tour Vinnie invested his time in writing new songs and once he realized that this new material was not aligned with KISS “directions” and simply too good for him to give it up, he decided to quit with KISS and to start a solo career. He formed the ‘Vinnie Vincent Invasion,' signed to Chrysalis and issued a self-titled debut in 1986. The album (unanimously considered a milestone in hair/glam rock) entered the top 50 as well as the second one (1988's ‘All Systems Go') after which the band split up. In the following years Vinnie Vincent continued working on solo projects, releasing “Euphoria” EP in 1996 and “Speedball Jam” EP in 2002. In 1992 He helped Kiss with some of the songwriting for their album ‘Revenge’. As of today Vinnie is working on a new project that, once released, will further affirm his status of lead guitar master. Among the acknowledgments given to Vinnie during his career are to be reminded: the Jackson’s guitars custom model in dedication to Vinnie (the famous “shadow” guitar); Laney Amp usage of Vinnie as a testimonial for an advertising campaign; the making of a VHS showing Vinnie’s guitar playing mastery within the MetalTech series; a dedicated web site (http://www.vinnievincent.com). All of this not to mention the legions of fans that after more than 20 years of career, and on a worldwide basis, are still devoting energies and dedication to him.

Bio by Antonio Romano

© 2002 - 2011 Central High School. All Rights Reserved.

http://bridgeport.ct.schoolwebpages.com ... ilid=30126

Does anyone know if the author is a student? The sources weren't cited. It appears as if it was written for a web page. The research is pretty impressive. Vinnie's name was mis spelled, but overall, it's well written.

I believe this was the high school Vincent Cusano attended.

I cannot believe his name was miss spelled that badly! Other than that it sounds like Vinnie wrote the bio himself, like his edits to his Wikipedia page.

"All of this not to mention the legions of fans that after more than 20 years of career, and on a worldwide basis, are still devoting energies and dedication to him."


WE are the Legion because we are one!!!

That has been up at least 10 years and it was a class project to search out what people had gone on and done after leaving the school. This is why his name is wrong.

It does seem old, mentioning Speedball Jam, but as with many times in his career, writing that something "big" is around the corner is nothing new. And so is the fact that not much happens.

Or if it does it's so bad ($9k guitars anyone?) it would have been better if nothing had happened.

First time vv spoke to me about guitars they were to be 5k then he said 6k. I remember thinking 5k was too expensive at the time. The only good thing about the high prices is that no one had any bad stories of not getting one etc.

Interesting biography. I really would like to find one of the Metal tech VHS or converted to DVD quality.

Hi Gonnarock, have you checked Youtube for videos of Metal Tech?

I did see that youtube does have a few of the Metal tech videos, and I have actually tried to follow along on my guitar. haha Some of the scales are really nice and unique to play, slowly of course. There is one that is cut off though that I wish I could see the rest of. It was part 4 of the first one. Its very nice someone uploaded a few clips.

The video quality is pretty bad on youtube, at least the sound is still good.
A few of have the VHS tape, including myself but i don't have a player anymore but still can't part with it

Aw. I guess I won't beg you to part with it in that case. haha. I bet I can find it somehow, I have "connections." XD.

I've got a NTSC copy of the metal tech video, I remember seeing it new for about $70 or $80 as an import!

Really? 70 or 80 dollars??? OMG wow that is a lot more expensive than I thought it would be. Wow. I guess I will have to hide away my piggy bank for a little while. I am still saving up for one of the VVI shirts on ebay. Some things are going to take time...

I remember buying it new from the music store chain 'sound warehouse' not sure if any Americans remember that. I saw it also in a mall at Sam goody or the other 80s chain.. forgot the name now. Maybe musicworld.

Oh yeah, Metal Tech was not cheap in Australia. It cost a pretty penny in 88 to buy. Have not seen it on EBay lately.

..I think i paid $70 way back then when i was in High School!
That's like the price of admission to a forum now !

Yeah I thought $70 or $80 back in the day?! Crazy! It was released with two different covers also... I have the Reh video...