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Campbell musician gets Grammy nod
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“Pour Mon Pere” is a moving and soothing collection of songs by Deno Frangopoulos that has been nominated in the Pop Instrumental catgory.
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
After spending his days caring for his cancer-stricken father, Deno Frangopoulos would retreat to the basement of his family’s house in Campbell where his electric piano was set up.
There he would pour out his emotions with music.
What came out is so inspiringly beautiful that it has caught the ear of Grammy Award judges.
Frangoupolos captured those basement sessions on “Pour Mon Pere” (“For My Father”), a moving and soothing collection of songs that has been nominated in the Pop Instrumental category. The record has an emotional depth that cradles the listener from song to song.
Because it was recorded live, the album retains the realness and pain that prompted the cathartic late-night piano sessions.
“Pour Mon Pere” is one of 119 albums selected in its relatively small category, which will be pared down to five Wednesday. The Grammy nominations concert will be broadcast at 10 p.m. that night on CBS.
The final Grammy ceremony will be Feb. 12 in Los Angeles and will also be broadcast on CBS.
Although he doesn’t expect to win, Frangopoulos was overwhelmed by the nomination.
“The closest I believe I’ll be to hearing the words ‘... and the Grammy goes to’ will be from the cheaper balcony seats, where all of us unknown Academy members will be seated” at the Grammy ceremony, said Frangopoulos. “But it’s surreal just to be a part of the Grammy process. Just to see my name and album title listed on the ballot alone was a thrill in itself.”
Few people have heard his album so far, but that could change. Frangopoulos already has plans to release his next album, “Icarus Bleeds,” in March.
Whether music turns into a career for him remains to be seen, but Frangopoulos has already seen more than his share of fame. He was nothing less than a supermodel, working with Versace and Dolce Gabana in ads, and appearing in numerous magazines including GQ, Vogue, Esquire and Details.
He also was in television commercials for Bacardi rum, Coca-Cola, Miller Lite and others in the late 1980s and ’90s.
Frangopoulos was also an actor who had roles in the 1997 miniseries “The Last Don” and the series “Sins of the City” (1998) and “Miami Sands” (2001).
He moved back to Campbell from California about five years ago to care for his father, Stanley, who owned Atlas industrial painting company, which specialized in bridge painting. His father is retired and the company no longer exists. His lung cancer has been in remission since summer.
The recording sessions occurred earlier this year.
Frangoupolos is also a visual artist who paints — one of his works is on the cover of “Pour Mon Pere” — and makes candles and jewelry.
He learned to play the piano by ear as both a hobby and a form of therapy, and released his first album, a pop music affair titled “From Hamburg to L.A.,” in 2001.
Frangopoulos said his emotions were exposed in “Pour Mon Pere,” which is available online at iTunes and Amazon.com.
After recording the songs that comprise the album, he took them to sound engineer Myke Adams, an old friend from Poland, Ohio, who mastered the album at his Hollywood recording studio.
Adams presented it to Arturo G. Alvarez of Tournesol Media, who liked it and re-released the album in July.
Alvarez submitted the album to the Grammy nomination board, which accepted it from among the thousands of submissions it received.
“I listened to it and I loved it,” Alvarez told The Vindicator.
I called him and said ‘you have great music.’ I knew he would get [the nomination]. He has a lot of talent, and is a person with soul — you can hear it reflected in the record.”
Alvarez said a member of the Grammy board told him he was particularly touched by the song “Basement Tears.”