Nicholas Perri (born May 15, 1984) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and producer. He is frontman for Philadelphia rock group Nick Perri & The Underground Thieves, as well as founding member of previous groups
Silvertide, Mount Holly, and SINAI. Perri has also played for
Perry Farrell
Perry Farrell (born Peretz Bernstein; March 29, 1959) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician referred to as the " Godfather of Alternative Music". Farrell began his career with Psi Com in the early 1980s, before becoming the frontman ...
,
Matt Sorum
Matthew William Sorum (born November 19, 1960) is an American drummer. He is best known as both a former member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he recorded three studio albums, and as a member of the supergroup Velvet Revolver. ...
, younger sister
Christina Perri,
Jimmy Gnecco
James Francis Gnecco III (born September 30, 1973) is an American singer, songwriter and multi instrumentalist who makes music both under his name and the moniker Ours (band), Ours. Gnecco is known for his multi-octave vocal range and singing st ...
,
Shinedown,
Dorothy, and others.
Perri is a platinum-selling songwriter, and in 2016, produced a
Transformers
''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Tomy, Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the heroic Autobots and the villainous Decepticons, two Extraterrestrials in fiction, alien robot fac ...
compilation album for Hasbro and Sony. In addition, Perri has placed music in movies, TV shows, and commercials including advertisements for the NHL, the WB Network, Theraflu, Squarespace, and others. He also appeared and performed in the M. Night Shyamalan film ''
Lady in the Water
''Lady in the Water'' is a 2006 American fantasy psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, who produced with Sam Mercer. The film features the starring cast of Paul Giamatti and Bryce Dallas Howard with Bob Ba ...
'', and provided two songs to the film's soundtrack.
Perri has also become one of the new faces of
Gibson Guitars, having recently debuted their 60th Anniversary 1959
Gibson Les Paul
The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The guitar was designed by factory manager John Huis and his team with input from and endorsement by guitarist Les Paul. Its typic ...
.
Personal life
Perri is the son, and older child of Mary and Dante Perri. He grew up in
Bensalem, Pennsylvania
Bensalem Township is a township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The township borders the northeastern section of Philadelphia and includes the communities of Andalusia, Bensalem, Bridgewater, Cornwells Heights, Eddington, Flush ...
, a
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
suburb with his parents and younger sister, singer-songwriter
Christina Perri. He attended
Father Judge High School and
Bensalem High School and was involved in the theater department. In his junior year, he had the starring role in ''
The King and I
''The King and I'' is the fifth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on Margaret Landon's novel '' Anna and the King of Siam'' (1944), which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the childr ...
''. He married Misi Bauman in 2011, and their daughter, Tesla, was born in 2014.
Career
In 2001, Perri co-founded the Philadelphia-based blues-rock group,
Silvertide. They released their first EP ''American Excess'' in 2002. Their first full album, ''
Show and Tell'', was released in 2004. After completion of their debut album in 2003, Silvertide toured straight until 2006, with bands such as
Van Halen
Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1973. Credited with restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene, Van Halen was known for their energetic live performances and the virtuosity of their guit ...
,
Velvet Revolver
Velvet Revolver was an American hard rock supergroup consisting of Guns N' Roses members Slash (lead guitar), Duff McKagan (bass, backing vocals) and Matt Sorum (drums, backing vocals), alongside Dave Kushner (rhythm guitar) formerly of pu ...
, and
Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Hollywood, California, in 1981 by bassist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, with guitarist Mick Mars and lead vocalist Vince Neil joining right after. The band has sol ...
.
Following the disbanding of Silvertide, Perri moved back to Los Angeles in 2007 and picked up a role as lead guitarist for
Perry Farrell
Perry Farrell (born Peretz Bernstein; March 29, 1959) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician referred to as the " Godfather of Alternative Music". Farrell began his career with Psi Com in the early 1980s, before becoming the frontman ...
. After touring and playing with Farrell and
Satellite Party
Satellite Party was an alternative rock band formed by Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell following the break-up of Jane's Addiction in 2004. Other members included Carl Restivo (bass) and Farrell's wife, Etty Lau Farrell (backing singer a ...
for a year he left the group and took another lead guitarist role with the modern rock band
Shinedown. He stayed with them from 2008 through 2009 touring in support of ''
The Sound of Madness''.
In 2009, Perri began a stint with drummer
Matt Sorum
Matthew William Sorum (born November 19, 1960) is an American drummer. He is best known as both a former member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he recorded three studio albums, and as a member of the supergroup Velvet Revolver. ...
. Perri and Sorum played throughout the year in Los Angeles and Las Vegas with a group called The Darling Stilettos.
In 2010 Perri moved back to Philadelphia, and with former Silvertide frontman
Walt Lafty started a new rock band called Sinai. They spent over a year writing and recording music, and in February 2012, announced a full-length album was finally on the way. The record, entitled ''A Pinch of Chaos'', was released on April 1, 2012.
After taking some time off to grow his custom guitar business Perri returned to the stage in 2014 with The Nick Perri Group for a string of East and West coast shows with friend
Jimmy Gnecco
James Francis Gnecco III (born September 30, 1973) is an American singer, songwriter and multi instrumentalist who makes music both under his name and the moniker Ours (band), Ours. Gnecco is known for his multi-octave vocal range and singing st ...
. On March 3, 2015, it was announced that the Nick Perri Group had changed its name to Mount Holly.
After two and a half years together, Mount Holly singer Jameson Burt announced he was leaving the band via social media on November 2, 2017. The remaining members followed up saying in Jameson's absence, they would be bringing the band to a close. Mount Holly's full-length album "Stride By Stride" was released Nov 3rd 2017 and entered the TOP 40 on the iTunes Alternative Music charts, peaking at #32.
Starting in the summer of 2018 (through winter 2019) Perri was touring with female rock artist
Dorothy, filling in for guitarist Owen Barry who recently had a baby.
In 2019 Perri also become one of the new faces of
Gibson Guitars, having debuted their 60th Anniversary 1959
Gibson Les Paul
The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The guitar was designed by factory manager John Huis and his team with input from and endorsement by guitarist Les Paul. Its typic ...
.
On January 4, 2018, Nick unveiled his new group The Underground Thieves, who released their first single "Graveyard Moon" on January 26. The band later changed their name to Nick Perri & The Underground Thieves and in 2020 announced their debut LP, Sun Via.
This version of the group consisted of Perri on vocals and guitar, singers/songwriters Anthony and Michael Montesano, bassist Brian Weaver, keyboardist/songwriter Justin DiFebbo, and drummer Zil Fessler, all of whom originate from Philadelphia.
Sun Via was released on August 14, 2020, and debuted at #6 on the iTunes rock albums charts.
The band’s first single “Feeling Good” hit number #45 on the US rock radio charts and earned acclaim from industry contemporaries. The band spent the remainder of 2020 performing a series of Live Streaming events, and outdoor concerts with The Struts, and Blackberry Smoke. In 2021 they re-joined Blackberry Smoke for a run of shows in Florida, and announced they would be touring through the summer both as a headliner, and co-headliner with Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick.
On May 20, 2021, the band released its second single and accompanying music video for “I Want You”, and simultaneously announced a partnership with
Gibson and
Sweetwater Sound
Sweetwater is an American musical instrument retailer. Based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Sweetwater is the largest online retailer of musical instruments and pro audio equipment in the United States.
History
Chuck Surack established the company in ...
to giveaway 100,000 digital copies of their debut record, Sun Via.
At the end of 2021 Nick announced his first solo tour, with support from former Silvertide band member, Walt Lafty.
In January of 2022 now as a 4-piece (excluding the Montesano Bros) the band entered Retro City Studios in Philadelphia to record their sophomore album. Nick said in an instagram post that the recordings have yielded a double album, and that it is expected for release in 2023.
On July 13, 2022, the band released a cover of the
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...
song, "My My Hey Hey".
Discography
Albums
*''Silvertide - American Excess (EP)'' (2003)
*''
Silvertide - Show and Tell'' (2004)
*''Lady In The Water - Soundtrack'' (2006)
*''
Christina Perri - The Ocean Way Sessions'' (2010)
*''
Christina Perri - Lovestrong'' (2011)
*''SINAI - A Pinch of Chaos'' (2012)
*''Nick Perri - Sink or Swim'' (2012)
*''Christina Perri - A Very Merry Perri Christmas (EP)'' (2012)
*''Transformers - Roll Out'' (2016)
*''Mount Holly - Stride By Stride'' (2017)
*''The Underground Thieves + Friends - The Capistrano EP'' (2018)
*''Nick Perri & The Underground Thieves - Sun Via'' (2020)
Singles
References
External links
Nick Perri Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perri, Nick
1984 births
Living people
American rock guitarists
American male guitarists
American people of Italian descent
Guitarists from Philadelphia
People from Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania
21st-century American guitarists
21st-century American male musicians