Greg Piccolo

Former Roomful of Blues vocalist and sax man Greg Piccolo was born May 10, 1951, in Westerly, RI. At the age of 13 he was playing sax with a six-piece rock band, the Rejects. Two years later he joined Duke Robillard as a vocalist for the Variations, a British Invasion cover band. Piccolo rejoined Robillard in 1970 to create that first Roomful of Blues, inspired by the R&B band, the Buddy Johnson Orchestra. The group was further modified in 1971 and Piccolo began playing sax. The band worked up and down the Northeast gradually building up a national following. Robillard left the group in 1979 and was replaced by blues guitarist Ronnie Earl. By this time, Piccolo was the de facto leader. Dressed Up to Get Messed Up features a number of his compositions. The group stayed together until the early '90s when Piccolo went out on his own. Piccolo has released two solo albums in the acid-jazz vein, Heavy Juice on Black Top Records (1990) and Acid Blue (1995) on Fantasy. Greg Piccolo lives in Rhode Island. In 2000 he released a solo album entitled Homage which paid tribute to classic tenor players.