Christmas Time by Jerry Corelli

I wrote this song about how Christmas' were for me when I was a child growing up in Denver, Co.  This year in Tacoma, WA we had a cold spell during the Thanksgiving Week and snow too.  So I sang the song at the Thanksgiving Dinner at the Tacoma Rescue Mission on the Worthy Music Ministries' Showcase Stage.

Fried Bologna by Jerry Corelli

My 52nd Birthday

Every year my Birthday rolls around I can't help but reflect back on the past year and wonder about what the next year holds.  The first thing I question is, "Will I still be alive for my next birthday"?  "Will I write a song or two or 10 or 20 this next year?"  "Will we still be living in the same house?"  And the questions go on and on.

I guess some of my deeper question are in regard to the last year.  "Did my music in anyway touch someone's heart?"  "Was I a better husband this year than the year before?"  "Was I a better friend?"  A big one for me is also, "Did I learn at least something this last year?"

For the past few years I've been going through old photo albums and recorded music to put together my past.  If you don't know where you come from and can you know where you're going?  Because I started singing in the 70's I have a great deal of cassettes with songs on them that I've recorded.  As a way of cataloging them I'm transferring them to digital, along with videos too.  I'm still looking for an 8mm camcorder or player to transfer a bunch of videos I have on 8mm but haven't found one yet.  I guess I feel that if I don't piece together my past I'm leaving something out and it's hard to go forward.

Anyway, I wrote this out as a way of venting to myself and as a reminder to finish piecing everything so I can move forward.

Jerry Corelli YouTube Videos

Jerry Corelli the Christian Neil Diamond

1975 was when this picture was taken.  I was 16 years old and trying desperately to grow a mustache.

 For some reason dressing stupid was the fashion back then.  I don't know why I wore that hat.

This was the first "Neil Diamond" album I'd listened to.  A friend, Jim Eberle, had the album and said I sound like him and that I should listen to the album.  I guess I was to the second song on the "Serenade" album and I was hooked.  At first I know it was because my voice was beginning to lower and it was easier to sing to Neil Diamond that it was Steve Archer.  I also listened to Barry McGuire.  The album below was my first Barry McGuire album like Neil Diamond's "Serenade" was my first Neil Diamond album I bought after giving Jim back the album he let me borrow.

Then I discovered used album stores and found out Neil Diamond had a bunch of albums prier to the Serenade album and once I heard the "Hot August Night" album I knew I wanted to collect them all.

I guess I was 18 or so when I first started getting people coming up to me after a gig and saying, "Do you know who you sound like?" or "You sound just like Neil Diamond."  From that first time and for a long time that statement used to really bother me.  When I listened to my recordings and compared them with Neil Diamond I couldn't hear it.  I guess it's like William Shatner not seeing why comedians do his captain Kirk the way they do.

I'm not sure when I started becoming comfortable with the Neil Diamond thing but I think I realized that as singers we have to be compared with someone so now I tend to use it in my favor.  In 2010 I've been singing at a lot of Worthy Music Ministries' Showcases and many of them are in more secular venues like the Seattle Center - Center House Stage, Tacoma Freedom Fair and the Orting Pumpkin Fest.  The venues don't have too big of a problem with us sing Christian music but I've found that since people think I sound like Neil Diamond it's a great chance to get it out of the way by singing "America".

Now when I sing at venues and do Neil Diamond's "America" it tends to get it out of the way and it is an attention grabber too.  I now have more people coming up to tell me I'm the Christian Neil Diamond.

I'm Not Dead Yet by Jerry Corelli

I'm Not Dead Yet by Jerry Corelli

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I'm Not Dead Yet by Jerry Corelli