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Maureen McGovern headlines benefit concert DIVAS of the Valley
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
YOUNGSTOWN
They’re calling it Valley of the Divas, and the concert will feature six of the finest female vocalists with local roots.
Not surprisingly, Maureen McGovern will be the headliner of the event Saturday evening at Ford Family Recital Hall. The Boardman native – who first reached the national spotlight in the ’70s – is the queen of Valley divas, and has seen a career resurgence in recent years.
Representing the up and comers is Sugar Joans, who was a semifinalist on NBC’s “The Voice” in 2014 (season 7).
The Valley Divas also include:
Maureen Collins, the musical-theater pro and singer who has been entertaining Valley audiences for many years as a founding partner of Easy Street Productions.
Leanne Binder, a fixture on the area’s pop music scene.
Janis Jones, the popular jazz-soul singer from Youngstown.
Sarah Turner, the budding country singer from Boardman.
The six singers will take turns doing individual sets, but the show also will include some duets as well as segments when all are on stage.
Sugar Joans might be the outlier in this group, since she was born and raised in Los Angeles and never lived in Youngstown.
But she is the daughter of Joe Pizzulo, the Youngstown native and Ursuline High School graduate who started his music career in his hometown with his bands Roadshow and Brainchild. Pizzulo moved to LA in 1974, where he started a band called White Licorice, and later toured with Alice Cooper as a background singer, and recorded with Sergio Mendes.
Though not a native, Sugar Joans (real name: Sophia Louise Pizzulo) still has a lot of family in the Mahoning Valley and has visited many times.
In a phone interview from her LA home, Joans acknowledged the musical influence of her father on her and her brothers.
“We were always around music, from my earliest memories,” she said. “My dad and brothers are musicians, and as I was listening, I came to know there was no other option [for me].”
Her brother, Giuliano Pizzulo, is part of indie-electronica band Passion Pit, playing synthesizer and guitar.
Joans has used her success on “The Voice” as a springboard to further her own career. She released her first single, “NVR,” in November and recently quit her day job to be a full-time musician.
“All I do is music,” said the graduate of the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. “I gig with my band, do session work and solo work, too.”
While she appreciates the exposure that came from “The Voice,” she said it is no substitute for putting in the legwork.
“It’s just years of hard work,” she said. “People recognize me from ‘The Voice.’ I got some notoriety, and booking gigs can be easier. People want to work with me.
“But at the same time, it’s about hard work.”
Saturday’s concert will be immediately followed by a catered meet-and-greet with the divas.
All proceeds will go to CreativeBridge Coalition, a Valley-based charitable organization that supports music-based educational programming for young children and those with special needs.