A Pauper in Paradise

A Pauper in Paradise is the fifth studio album by Italian-Canadian singer Gino Vannelli, released in 1977. It was notable for including contributions by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on the second side, including a fifteen-minute title track symphony that took Gino five months to write, and which led A&M to offer a warning to Gino to expand his appeal or face rapid declines in album sales that since Powerful People had been a steady 300,000 albums per release.

Detailed personnel

 * Art Direction – Fabio Nicoli, Roland Young (3)
 * Backing Vocals – Jay Stone, Joanie Bartels
 * Backing Vocals, Design, Artwork – Joanne Jayde
 * Drums – Casey Scheuerell
 * Engineer – John Kurlander (tracks: 7 to 10), Norm Kinney
 * Engineer [Assistent] – Steve Prestage
 * Engineer [Re-mix] – Jon Kelly
 * Keyboards – Chris Rhyne
 * Leader – Barry Griffiths (tracks: 7 to 10)
 * Lyrics By, Music By – Gino Vannelli
 * Mastered By – Bernie Grundman
 * Orchestra – The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (tracks: 7 to 10)
 * Orchestrated By, Conductor – Don Sebesky (tracks: 7 to 10)
 * Percussion – Dido* (tracks: 6), John J. Mandel
 * Photography By – Beth Kelly
 * Producer, Arranged By, Keyboards – Joe Vannelli
 * Saxophone – Dick Morrissey
 * Synthesizer, Synthesizer [Bass], Piano, Backing Vocals – Bill Meyers
 * Vocals [Choir] – The John McCarthy Choir (tracks: 7 to 10)
 * Vocals, Producer, Arranged By – Gino Vannelli

Technical personnel

 * Jon Kelly – Remixing
 * Norm Kinney – Engineer
 * John Kurlander – Engineer
 * Steve Prestage – Assistant Engineer
 * Fabio Nicoli – Art Direction
 * Roland Young – Art Direction

Musicians

 * Gino Vannelli – lead vocals
 * Joe Vannelli – Fender Rhodes, piano, programming, synthesizer, synthesizer arrangements, synthesizer string arrangement, backing vocals
 * Bill Meyers – piano, synthesizer, synthesizer bass, backing vocals
 * Nyboma Mwan Dido – bongos, congas
 * Jay Graydon – guitar
 * Casey Scheuerell - drums
 * John J. Mandel – percussion, timbales
 * Chris Rhyne – keyboards, synthesizer bass
 * Royal Philharmonic Orchestra – orchestra on "Black and Blue" and "A Pauper in Paradise"

Technical personnel

 * Jon Kelly – Remixing
 * Norm Kinney – Engineer
 * John Kurlander – Engineer
 * Steve Prestage – Assistant Engineer
 * Fabio Nicoli – Art Direction
 * Roland Young – Art Direction