User:WikiProfessor90/sandbox

Joe Sharino is a musician, band leader, event producer and songwriter in Northern California.

History: Joe was a Radio TV Broadcasting major at San Jose State College. He began performing at local nightclubs in 1973 as a solo act. He played acoustic guitar and sang mellow folk and pop songs in his act, but within a few months, the act evolved to include up-tempo Rock and Roll, impressions and sing alongs. Within a year, there was standing room only at venues all over Northern California. When he had just one semester left to graduate from San Jose State University, Joe left college to play music full time.

By 1976, Sharino was filling the largest nightclubs in Northern California on weeknights. Nightclub owners in Phoenix, Tucson and Cleveland soon heard about the phenomenon, and Joe found himself entertaining out of state. In 1978, Joe made the act a duo, adding Dave Petrucci on drums and vocals.

By 1979, Joe formed a band to broaden his horizons and in the hopes of performing as an opening act for major concerts and at the casinos of Nevada. Concert openings soon came and the Joe Sharino Band was the opening act for America, David Lindley, B. B. King, Emmy Lou Harris, the O'Jays, Charlie Daniels, Chuck Berry, Alan King, The Drifters, The Temptations and others.

Joe’s released his first record (a single), "A Thief In The Night" in 1980. Joe and the band also performed for a two-week engagement at the Sheraton Waikiki in Hawaii that year. Sharino sang the national anthem at an Oakland A's baseball game which was televised on NBC. Two weeks of shows at the Sahara Hotel Casino in Lake Tahoe, and a show at the Aladdin Casino in Las Vegas soon followed.

In 1982, Apple Computer founder and Sharino fan, Steve Wozniak invited Joe and his band to perform at the “Us Festival” in Southern California. Dubbed the "West Coast Woodstock", it was a three day festival which drew 250,000 people to hear Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, The Police, Santana, Pat Benatar, Jackson Browne, The Cars, The Kinks, Eddie Money and the Grateful Dead. Sharino and his band opened the second day’s concert to 250,000 people and received rave reviews from Time Magazine, Rolling Stone magazine and appeared in national news telecasts on NBC and ABC. Joe appears in the 2017 documentary film, “The Us Generation: the 1982 Us Festival”. The following year (1983) Steve Wozniak invited Joe and keyboardist Joel Nelson to the second “Us Festival” to participate in the first ever "Tele-Jam Session". Live via satellite, Sharino and Nelson (in Southern California) had a "jam session" with the Russian band Arsenal who were playing music with them... while they were in MOSCOW! The Tele-jam was televised all over Europe and the USSR. In 1984, the Us Festival Movie was released and shown on Showtime including Joe's "Tele-Jam Session".

In 1984, thanks to help from Steve Wozniak, Joe released his second record, and MTV video, "I Wanna Be President". Several of the songs received airplay on radio stations in California and Oregon.

From the late 1980's and into the 1990's, the focus of the band's shows changed to include corporate events, weddings, fundraisers and outdoor festivals and fairs. By the early 1990's these private functions began to outnumber the public nightclub shows. The band's Corporate Client list includes nearly every large company in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Joe and the band have performed in Hawaii, Nevada, Washington, Massachusetts, Arizona, Idaho, Utah, Florida, Ohio, Washington D.C., and New York for corporate events.

In addition, Joe started a company called Sharino Productions through which he produces entire events including decorations, lighting, entertainment (including nationally known acts), advertising, venue and schedule planning. He also has written and recorded commercial music including theme songs, jingles and soundtracks for General Electric, Hewlett Packard, Apple Computer, Cisco Systems, Fujitsu, Quantum, Owens Corning and many more. The Joe Sharino Band was also chosen by the San Francisco Forty Niners to be their "House Band" for the 1997-1998 and 1999-2000 seasons.

The Joe Sharino Band has won 17 Best Band Awards in Northern California from the San Jose Mercury News (4), Metro Magazine (5 awards), Good Times Magazine (6 awards), KGO radio's listener's poll and Accent Magazine. In addition to the two records mentioned above, Joe also released two tapes of instrumental music in the early 1990's.   Currently, Sharino produces events, and occasionally performs an acoustic show with his daughter, Alison Sharino. Alison is the leader of the Alison Sharino Band in the San Francisco Bay Area. Joe's website is http://JSBand.com.

Band Members: Joe Sharino: Lead vocals, lead guitar, keyboards. Andy Morales: Lead vocals, drums, percussion, guitar. Mark Belshaw: Lead vocals, saxophone, guitar, keyboards, flute. David Petrucci: Vocals, keyboards, guitar.