9 minute read
JOHN MICHAEL FERRARI
John
Michael
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Ferrari
SINGING POET SONGWRITER
John Michael Ferrari is an award-winning singer songwriter who has written many iconic hits over his career. Many can compare him to the likes of Sammy Davis Jr or a young Bobby Darin. He is described as “crooner with a smooth as silk voice.” In fact, in 2019 he won the award of Outstanding Male Singer Songwriter of the Year by the Producer’s Choice Honors. Aside from being a musical artist, Ferrari is also a songwriter, music arranger, composer, still photographer, public speaker, teacher, and author. He is signed to Pepper Jay Productions. His style of writing is telling swooning stories that entice listeners with his life experiences. Ferrari has also recently assembled his own band called the John Michael Ferrari Band that performs nationally. His genres include Country, Pop, Christian, and Children. Ferrari has an upcoming EP called “Be the Smile on Your Face”, which was based on a personal experience. The EP is being recorded at Larry Beaird Studio in Nashville.
Ferrari’s sound can be described as “very California”. He grew up in California, but now he currently resides on a ranch in Pahrump, Nevada. Ferrari has been listening to music since the 3rd grade and all the genres he listened to growing up inspired all of his music. He emphasized that the most important aspect in his music is music structure. The way that songs are written are very important a flowing combination of intro, verses, chorus, perhaps a pre chorus, perhaps a bridge. Ferrari explains “if you have something memorable, you have a song”.
nected with him more when he shared his personal life experiences. The title of the EP was inspired when he and another gentleman saw a beautiful woman with a dazzling smile at Trader Joe’s. The gentleman and John both noticed the woman and he told Ferrari “I’d sure like to be the smile on her face” and John agreed. This short encounter inspired the EP’s name and two songs on the EP. All of John’s songs are developed like this. He takes instances and makes them into emotional stories. Pepper Jay helps convey his vision by producing music and creating or securing his album art. Pepper Jay is one of Ferrari’s hugest supporters. Pepper is a music producer, record label owner, actress, teacher, public speaker, and author. She has been Ferrari’s manager for over 30 years. Pepper believes that everything that Ferrari writes is “poetry put to music”.
Ferrari has created over 12 singles and his album “My Early Life” throughout his musical career. He also has several unreleased songs that can be found on his Reverbnation page: www.Reverbnation.com/JohnMichaelFerrari. Recently, he has released the song Bad Dream, which is quite different from his other songs. In this song, he cleverly takes the listener through the experience of his reoccurring nightmares. He explains that it’s about “when you have these bad dreams and you can’t quite figure out what they mean”. It’s also about finding yourself out of a bad dream. One of his most haunting lyrics is that “I missed the sign checkout is at noon, all penalties will apply”. In the song, he makes references to “The Catcher in the Rye,” which is about a young boy trying to find his way in life. The listener is to interpret the song in their own way and, like several of John’s songs, there is a twist at the end of the song.
Along with sharing his own life experiences, Ferrari likes to share experiences from other people’s eyes. One thing he likes to do is share an experience through a child’s eyes. “Let’s Run Away to Alaska” and “Who’s that Girl?” both have childlike themes. “Who’s that Girl” is actually inspired by Ferrari observing a young boy seeing a 14-year-old red head in a square-dancing club. A boy around the same age walks into the club, notices her, and exclaims “Who’s that girl?”. Ferrari observed how the boy wanted to dance with the girl and get to know her, and he adopts his viewpoint into his hit song.
by playing his guitar and singing. At a very young age, Ferrari wrote his first song “Wah Do Wah Do”. As a teen, Ferrari often found himself in trouble and trying to escape his spiteful stepfather. Constantly in trouble, a judge believed that Ferrari was “incorrigible” and sentenced him to the Nevada State Children’s Home in Carson City for 2 years at the age of 15. Ferrari believes that this is the best thing that could’ve happened. While in high school, Ferrari also decided to drop out and join the military to serve in the Vietnam War. This also worked in his benefit, because it fruitfully added to many of Ferrari’s life experiences and stories. He wrote the song “Dustoff”, “Run”, “Let’s Run Away to Alaska”, and “When Love Said Goodbye”while serving in the war. In his own words, Ferrari describes the songs in his album:
“Let’s Run Away to Alaska,” fun, child-like let’s run away together theme; “tell the animals, the bear and the deer”. This song was created from a pickup line unsuccessfully used on a girl years ago when he was performing at Mount Charleston Lodge outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. He said, “Let’s run away to Alaska and we’ll tell everyone we moved to Nevada!”
“Why’d Momma Lie?” is based loosely on a true story of what happens when love never arrives. Her mother didn’t like her daughter dating John and told her love will come. So, she broke up with John. Years later, John asked her, “Did love come?” “No” she said with tears in her eyes.
“Don’t Fall Between the Daylight,” also based on a true story: empathy with teen “cutters” to prevent suicide, “and when you’re bleeding, I’m bleeding too”.
“Brand New River,” remembering a past love, “then, again, I’m with you”. John wrote this tune while staying in Lake Tahoe when he completed his Army enlistment time.
“When Love Said Good-bye,” is about moving forward in life. “I’ll pick up your dreams, put them away, I’ll save mine away for another day.”
“Ain’t No Mistaken:” “no matter how much we play this game like we just don’t care, there’s no mistaken, we’ve been taken with each other.”
“Dustoff”, penned by Ferrari in 1966 while serving in the United States Army in Vietnam, honors the military rescue helicopters and their crews, is a favorite among Veterans, including is still honored by the Dustoff Association.
“Who Can Blame a Broken Heart?” was created about a girl John lived with before going into the Army. When he returned, they had a fight. She said she wanted to go home. He said ok, I’ll drive you to the bus station never realizing he would never see her again.
Ferrari’s personal favorite song is “Be the Smile on Your Face”. He explains that it is one of his best musically structured and memorable songs. He also believes that “Who Can Blame a Broken Heart” and “Peggy Sue’s” are his favorites. They are story songs about his life and hard instances he got through.
As stated before, musical structure is very important to making each of Ferrari’s song. His musical process involved him doing a lot of writing and rewriting. He explains that some songs can take 20 minutes to write,
John Michael Ferrari
while others can take much longer. “Everything is trial and error,” he explains that “there is no one set anything when it comes to creativity”. When Ferrari creates new songs, he will perform them in front of the crowd to gauge their reaction. From then, he can revise or switch some things in the song.
Experiencing Ferrari in concert is a unique experience for the crowd. He speaks from his heart and will often talk to the audience between his songs. Hearing him live, is not just listening to a disconnected singer on stage that just goes from one song to the next. He interacts with the audience. “I just love seeing people smiling in the audience,” he tells Hollywood Weekly. His performances always bring a strong emotional response to audience members. Some of his performances are so moving that it will bring people to tears. He is very talented at reading the audience and adjusting his set list based on the mood of the crowd.
Ferrari wants all his fans and readers to know that he absolutely loves what he does. Ferrari tells Hollywood Weekly that “it’s nice to be inspired in life and have the ability to write about it”.
For readers and fans interested in hearing Ferrari’s music, you can find it on all music streaming platforms and on his website www.Reverbnation.com/JohnMichaelFerrari. Ferrari’s tour schedule and blog can also be found on his website: www.JohnMichaelFerrari. com. He has upcoming shows in Hollywood, Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans, and on the American Queen Steamboat on the Mississippi River.
Ferrari will also be performing at Hollywood Weekly’s Pre-Grammy party.
If you are interested in publishing or recording any of his unpublished songs or booking John Michael Ferrari for any upcoming show, please contact Pepper Jay, 310-345-9366.
