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Frank Marocco
Frank Marocco was born in Illinois and grew up in a suburb of Chicago. When
he was seven years old, his parents enrolled him in a six-week trial program on
the accordion. Frank studied the
classics for nine years with George Stefani who encouraged him to explore other
areas: he played the piano and the clarinet; he studied music theory, harmony,
conducting, and was a member of his high school band.
Then the year before Franks musical career began to happen, he studied with the
legendary Andy Rizzo, a master teacher who has influenced many of this country's
accordion artists.
Frank Marocco's musical career began in Chicago, Illinois where at age 17 he
took first place in a Music Festival Contest and performed with the Chicago Pops
Orchestra. Frank then spent the
next few years traveling all over the U.S.A. with his Quartet playing all the
top hotels and clubs including Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe and Palm Springs, finally
settling in Los Angeles.
He later worked with the Les Brown Band and Bob Hope, working on Mr. Hope's
television shows and traveling with him around the world entertaining troops.
In recent years, Frank has done a great deal of studio session work on the West
coast and has become one of the most recorded accordionists in the world. Frank
has played on hundreds of movie soundtracks, TV series and specials, records and
commercials. The National Academy of Arts and Sciences (N.A.R.A.S.) nominated
him eight years in a row as most valuable player.
Marocco is soft-spoken. His manner is unassuming. But he
becomes almost fervent when he expresses his personal philosophy about being a
musician. He says: "Although I've made a comfortable living, my primary
goal has never been to make a lot of money. It has been to be the best I could
possibly be. This takes integrity, hard work, and dedication.
"You must have respect for what you do."
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