To Joey Cee a microphone has always been close-by since he was a 4- year old boy in St. Patrick’s Church Choir. Whether in front of a microphone or behind one, Joey has always been one to amplify his creativity.
Although he is more comfortable working behind the scenes, producing records for other artists, he himself has had his share of internationally released recordings. He performed ‘live’ on stage with the likes of The Righteous Bros. and Little Eva, long before ever recording but with the moral support and urging from the likes of Neil Diamond and Pete Bennett (manager for George Harrison, Ringo Starr, etc) he decided to go forward with his dream of recording. Once out of the radio, he entered Thunder Sound Studios, then owned by Moses Znaimer, as a signed artist to Capitol-EMI Records to record his very first recording with his dream cast – a choir, an orchestra and a great producer Paul White (responsible from bringing the Beatles to Canada).
In addition, it was the first recording using the newly acquired recording control board named “Olive” which was used by The Beatles at Abbey Studios to record some of their biggest hits. Joey selected two songs to record from an obsolete UK album that was sitting around for years. Seeing a great marketing opportunity to go along with his recording debut, and not wishing to be tied to his industry ties as Joey Cee, he released “Any Dream Will Do” and “Close Every Door” as JOSEPH. The fact that his name is really Joseph and the songs were the first out of the gate for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – the marriage was perfectly timed.
This was followed by a second release written by Ronnie King of the Stampeders titled “Oh What The Summer Can Do” released on A+M Records under the Joey Cee monikor. That was followed by a new arrangement of “Sea of Love” on Private Stock Records under the pseudonym of The Puppies. On its release, rumours coming out of the UK were that Jeff Beck liked the guitar solo in the song. Ironically the same song with basically a similar arrangement was recorded and released a few years later by The Honeydrippers which included Jeff Beck and Robert Plant.
More records followed under the names of Artsy and The Elay Orchestra.
Although he eventually stepped back from recording to concentrate on producing and writing, he is currently working on another recording project which will surprise many. What else is new!