Anthony J. Camillo (August 11, 1928 – August 29, 2018)
bongiovifuneralhome.com retrieved April 13, 2020 was an American record producer, orchestrator and arranger.

Background

Camillo, born in

Somerville, New Jersey Somerville is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in and the county seat of Somerset County, New Jersey, Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

, pop and

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

recordings of the 1960s and 1970s, including Ronnie Williams, recordings by

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, Dazz Band, Millie Jackson,

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, Sha Na Na,

Grand Funk Railroad Grand Funk Railroad (often shortened to Grand Funk) is an American rock band formed in Flint, Michigan, in 1969 by Mark Farner (vocals, guitar, keyboards, harmonica), Don Brewer (drums, vocals) and Mel Schacher (bass). The band achieved pea ...

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, Martha Reeves,

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Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, and

Tommy James Tommy James (born Thomas Gregory Jackson; April 29, 1947) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. James is the frontman of the rock band Tommy James and the Shondells, which is known for hit singles such as "Mony Mony", ...

.Management Team at VMG Poised for Market Shift
''Market Wire'', July 2004. Accessed November 26, 2007.

Career

In the early 1970s, he spent some time working in Detroit with Motown and also the Holland-Dozier-Holland production team on their Invictus and Hot Wax labels before returning to Hillsborough, New Jersey base where he established a recording studio, Venture Sound, in 1971. In 1973 he co-produced and arranged Gladys Knight & the Pips' number one hit, " Midnight Train to Georgia" at Venture Sound, which was awarded a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

. Camillo also co-wrote and produced the group's 1974 hit, "I Feel a Song" which was a Billboard R&B number one (#21 pop). Camillo produced soul singer Ronnie Williams' single, Dreamin' which was an up-tempo cover of the

Johnny Burnette John Joseph Burnette (March 25, 1934 – August 14, 1964) was an American singer and songwriter of rockabilly and pop music. In 1952, Johnny, his brother Dorsey Burnette, and their mutual friend Paul Burlison, formed the band that became ...

song. Released on the Roxbury label, it was a Single Pick in the 9 November 1974 issue of ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...

''. According to the 8 November issue of ''

Radio & Records ''Radio & Records'' (''R&R'') was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It started as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006 and became a relaunched sister ...

'', it was a key add on at R&B stations, WDIA, WBOK, WYLD, and WVOL. It was also a key pop add on at secondary stations. The word was to watch out for this one. Camillo also assembled the studio group Bazuka, which scored a Top Ten hit in the US in 1975 with " Dynomite". The track peaked at #28 in the UK Singles Chart in June 1975. In 1978, he co-founded a record label, Venture Records. The label's biggest success came in 1982 with Canadian duo, Chéri, whose song, " Murphy's Law" reached #5 on the R&B and #39 on the pop chart. Later in his career, Camillo turned to writing and scoring for films, including the horror film '' Welcome to Arrow Beach'' (1974), the

Blaxploitation In American cinema, Blaxploitation is the film subgenre of action movie derived from the exploitation film genre in the early 1970s, consequent to the combined cultural momentum of the black civil rights movement, the black power movement, ...

film '' Hangup'' (1974), and the action movies ''The Survivalist'' (1987) and ''Night Vision'' (1997). In 1994, he founded Venture Music Group, a licensing group, and served as its CEO. He operated his own studio in New Jersey for over 30 years until his death. Camillo died on August 29, 2018, at the age of 90.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Camillo, Tony 1928 births 2018 deaths Musicians from Somerville, New Jersey Record producers from New Jersey American music arrangers