Alessi Brothers
I had a customer several years ago who was obsessed with the Alessi Brothers. I had heard of Alessi a little bit from when I was kid but learned much more about them through her obsession. Her love for the Alessi brothers didn’t seem normal or healthy. I think she could possibly at this very moment be standing outside their house with her binoculars and chloroform.
The Alessi Brothers are identical twin brothers, Billy and Bobby, and were a pop rock duo. I’ve never heard their music, but they looked good shirtless. That’ll sell albums. They were born on July 12, 1953 in Long Island, New York. I guess Bobby came out first. Aren’t you glad you know that?
The Hits
I guess they were one hit wonders around the world but with different hits. Oh Lori was a hit in the UK in 1977 (it reached #8) and became a hit in seventeen other countries. Put Away Your Love reached number 71 in the U.S. in 1982. Is number 71 on the Billboard charts considered a hit? Yeah, I didn’t think so.
The Alessi Brothers supposedly toured with Andy Gibb on his Shadow Dancing tour. I wonder if they played like one or two shows and now list that as a credit on their resume. I saw Andy on his Shadow Dancing tour and the opening act was a comedian.
The Alessi Brothers are good jingle writers. They’ve written for Diet Coke, 7-Up, Dr. Pepper, Sears, JC Penney, Ford, Twix, Slim Fast, and others. Bobby said in an interview that they’ve worked on thousands of commercials and still write for advertising agencies. So they’re jingle writers. They’re like Joey and Jesse on Full House. You got it, dude.
Bobby was interviewed in 2008 and said his inspirations are Brian Wilson, Sting, John Lennon, Stevie Wonder, and Barry Gibb. Okay. He definitely scored some points with me with the Stevie Wonder mention. He also says that if he could turn back time he would have skipped the drugs. I take that to mean he did some drugs. Bad boy! Drugs are bad. Mmmkay?
Trivia
- The boys sing background vocals on John Lennon’s last album, Milk and Honey. That’s pretty cool and impressive.
- They’re good friends with Paul Stanley of KISS. I want to be good friends with Gene Simmons. He’s sexy.
- Bobby owns a 1955 Thunderbird that he’s had for over 30 years.
- The song Oh Lori was written for Bobby’s wife.
- The boys were vocal arrangers on one of Debbie Gibson’s albums.
- They had a song on the Ghostbusters soundtrack (1984) called Savin’ the Day.
- They’ve recorded several albums and have sold millions of records worldwide.
The Alessi Brothers resumed touring in the 2000’s after kind of petering out in the 80’s. I think they’re now touring with the group Barnaby Bye. They’ve released six albums since 2003. So, I guess they’re keeping busy. They’re 65 years old as of this writing and I think it’s great that they’re still out there doing their thing. Rock on, boys.