BIOGRAPHY
Mercuretto is ...
A musical collective inspired by an era during which experimentation was encouraged and patience was a prerequisite.
A band of brothers and sisters with a decades-long history together and a storied past apart, proud to present a reinterpretation of glam era hits and b-sides.
Kevin Connelly / Male Lead Vocal
A singer, composer and actor acclaimed for his versatility, range, and impeccable voice, Kevin Connelly has had a life-long passion for the performing arts. As a teenager, he played his first starring stage role in a Sam Shepard play, receiving multiple acting awards. He joined his first band at 15 as a keyboardist.
He went on to co-found the new wave band New Regime, which in the 1980’s released two critically praised albums with RCA Records and hit songs such as “Seduction” and “Love and Satisfaction.” This seeming rocket to fame burned out in a corporate guard change, yet endures in the loyal devotion of fans worldwide to this day.
Kevin subsequently went to work for Sony Records and released a solo album called Son Of The Sun on an indie label after a bad break-up with Sony. He continued his passionate pursuit of acting for stage and film, appearing in musical theatre as well, starring in productions such as A Christmas Carol and many others.
Life on Mars, a project “Inspired by the sound and vision of David Bowie,” has played Canada and the US, earning Kevin praise not only for his singing, but for emulating the spirit of Bowie with astonishing nuance and accuracy.
Being a news obsessive like his father, in midlife Kevin decided he needed to try harder to change the world. In 2016, his band the Iron Age Mystics produced what has been hailed as “The best political rock album since the Rage Against The Machine’s debut”.
And now as the male lead singer for Mercuretto, Kevin’s theatrical and musical experience combine.
As a child, his favorite book was “The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe” by C.S Lewis.
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Alexander 'Sascha' Tukatsch / Drummer, programmer, recording and mix engineer.
Hosting short, creative writing and recording sessions at his personal production space in Toronto, BAHM quickly became the hub for the collection of musicians that would eventually be named Mercuretto. It was during this time in 2017 that the body of work for Mercuretto's debut was conceived, captured, mangled and mixed.
Drawing on his decades of recording and performance experiences Sascha set out to reinterpret as well as pay homage to the songs you will hear in this collection of B-sides from the classic glam era - both as drummer and engineer and co-producer.
Inspired by recording techniques of the past and keen to experiment Sascha worked from a traditional / analog approach while capturing the performances which make up this series. What does this mean to you the listener? There is no error correction, quantization or pitch correction to be found on these recordings. What was played is what you are listening to - warts and all.
Sascha's favourite book as a child was "The Little Engine That Could".
Sascha's musical history is available everywhere if you simply type his name into your favourite search engine.
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Tanya Godinho / Lead Female Vocal
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Tanya was born and raised in Toronto. A well-rounded performer, she completed her theatrical training at the University of Toronto and Sheridan College, where Tanya composed the theme for Theatre Erindale’s production of “Once Upon Our Time.”
In an ongoing effort to combine her many artistic desires, Tanya has made several lead appearances over the years in local musical theatre productions, including the CubeCity Entertainment productions Come Away, Purim Day, Job and the Snake, and Rebecca Brown’s Seder, featured during the Ashkanaz Festival. She enjoys songwriting as much as she does singing but has a soft spot in her heart for random dance choreography.
One of Tanya's trademark qualities as a singer is her chameleonic ability to transform her sound – genre to genre and from one note to the next. You can sometimes find Tanya around town at a jam night or in the studio working on something old, new, borrowed or blue.
John James / Bass
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Jon James is a Toronto based musician, best known as a bass player, however also plays guitar, drums and occasionally keyboards. James has performed and written with a multitude of recording acts and songwriters over his 35 years of playing experience.
As one of the original members of RCA recording act New Regime, Jon went on to form, write and perform with many independent projects throughout the late 80s, 90s and 2000s, most notably New Regime (RCA) and Britton (BMG music). Jon toured extensively throughout North America and Europe opening for bands such as Saga, Kingdom Come, Peter Frampton and Ozzy Osbourne.
As a founding member of the David Bowie tribute, Life On Mars, Jon continues to perform with LOM across north America.
Away from the stage, Jon is a songwriter, audio engineer and luthier; spending a considerable amount of time honing his craft in designing and building custom guitars and basses for other professional musicians.
Jon brings a sound and feel to bass playing that is reminiscent of the likes of John Entwistle, Chris Squire and Mick Karn. His solid approach is sure to add yet another dimension to Mercuretto.
Chuck Brown / Guitars
Chuck studied classical guitar and piano from age 5 to 15. At age 15 Chuck was featured on the CBC Superspecial: "The Guitar."
Chuck studied Music at York university, and went on to to play in local original and cover bands. Over the next two decades, Chuck shared the bill with The Irish Rovers, Burton Cummings, Beaver Brown Band, and The Commitments to name a few. During this time Chuck's original music was featured twice on Q107s Homegrown contest.
In 2004, Chuck toured with Garden Brothers Circus, as guitarist in the Circus Band. After this Chuck hit the road both fronting and playing as a sideman in cover bands, tribute acts, and original projects.
Chuck resides in Toronto and currently continues to record and play music.
Rob Cooper / Keyboards
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Rob Cooper is a Toronto-based musician who plays piano (acoustic & electric), Hammond organ, accordion, as well as a variety of keyboards/synthesizers and computer-based music production systems; he sings lead and harmony vocals; plays harmonica, as well as a variety of percussion instruments.
He has performed with such notable Canadian artists as Harem Scarem, Ken Tobias, Nash The Slash, The Kings and the renowned touring ensemble Classic Albums Live, as well as members of Frozen Ghost, Triumph, Nelly Furtado, The Guess Who, Sass Jordan, and numerous others.
He is also a veteran of the tribute scene, being a member of acts devoted to accurately performing and celebrating the music of David Bowie, Queen, Tom Petty, The Rolling Stones and Journey.
Away from the stage, he is a composer and arranger working on music intended for use in film and video game soundtracks, melding his musical skills with his abilities as a sound designer and engineer.
The Mercuretto project represents the best of both worlds for Rob; it allows him to exercise his talents as an arranger and composer, with his abilities as a performer in a wonderful ensemble of highly talented musicians.
