Richie Zito (born August 21, 1952) is an American songwriter, composer and record producer from Los Angeles. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Zito has experienced success as a prolific session musician, being featured on a wide array of other artists' recordings, including work with Joe Cocker,

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Neil Sedaka Neil Sedaka (; born March 13, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Since his music career began in 1957, he has sold millions of records worldwide and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collabo ...

, Yvonne Elliman, Eric Carmen, Art Garfunkel, Leo Sayer, Diana Ross, Marc Tanner,

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, The Motels, as well as The Cult, Eddie Money,

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, Juliet Simms, Bad English and Prism. In addition to this, Zito has produced 38 singles that have been featured in the charts. He was named Billboard's Producer of the Year in 1990. Zito also co-composed the score for the 1986 Japanese anime film '' Project A-ko'' with Joey Carbone. Zito's production style was described as "panoramic and cosmic" by Doug Stone of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

regarding his work with

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on their 1988 album '' Lap of Luxury''.

Musical career

1970s

Zito was born in Brooklyn, NY, but moved to California for better opportunities in his music career. In 1973, he recorded and toured with Bobby Hatfield of The Righteous Brothers. Later that year, Zito formed a band with Rick James, releasing the single "My Mama", a big hit in Europe. In 1974, Zito began working with

, who had signed with

's Rocket Records. Zito recorded, toured and made numerous TV appearances with Sedaka during the biggest comeback of the decade. The 1970s continued with Zito becoming one of the most in-demand session guitarists in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

, playing on songs such as Blondie's '' Call Me''.

1980s

In 1980, Zito joined Elton John's backing band, playing on the albums ''

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'', ''The Fox'', and '' Jump Up!''. He also toured extensively with John, highlighted by performing with him in front of 450,000 People at a Concert in Central Park. Zito then began working closely with producer

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, playing on some of the most successful movie soundtracks of the era. Zito worked extensively on the soundtrack for ''Scarface'', which saw him play all the guitars, besides arranging and co-writing a number of the songs. He also played guitar on songs for other artists' albums including

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

's '' Take My Breath Away'',

Irene Cara Irene Cara Escalera (March 18, 1959 – November 25, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and actress of Black, Puerto Rican and Cuban descent. Cara rose to prominence for her role as Coco Hernandez in the 1980 musical film '' Fame'', and f ...

's '' Flashdance... What a Feeling'', and Glenn Frey's '' The Heat Is On'' during this period.

Notable studio albums produced or co-produced by Zito

References

External links