Jerry Corelli the Christian Neil Diamond

1975 was when this picture was taken.  I was 16 years old and trying desperately to grow a mustache.

 For some reason dressing stupid was the fashion back then.  I don't know why I wore that hat.

This was the first "Neil Diamond" album I'd listened to.  A friend, Jim Eberle, had the album and said I sound like him and that I should listen to the album.  I guess I was to the second song on the "Serenade" album and I was hooked.  At first I know it was because my voice was beginning to lower and it was easier to sing to Neil Diamond that it was Steve Archer.  I also listened to Barry McGuire.  The album below was my first Barry McGuire album like Neil Diamond's "Serenade" was my first Neil Diamond album I bought after giving Jim back the album he let me borrow.

Then I discovered used album stores and found out Neil Diamond had a bunch of albums prier to the Serenade album and once I heard the "Hot August Night" album I knew I wanted to collect them all.

I guess I was 18 or so when I first started getting people coming up to me after a gig and saying, "Do you know who you sound like?" or "You sound just like Neil Diamond."  From that first time and for a long time that statement used to really bother me.  When I listened to my recordings and compared them with Neil Diamond I couldn't hear it.  I guess it's like William Shatner not seeing why comedians do his captain Kirk the way they do.

I'm not sure when I started becoming comfortable with the Neil Diamond thing but I think I realized that as singers we have to be compared with someone so now I tend to use it in my favor.  In 2010 I've been singing at a lot of Worthy Music Ministries' Showcases and many of them are in more secular venues like the Seattle Center - Center House Stage, Tacoma Freedom Fair and the Orting Pumpkin Fest.  The venues don't have too big of a problem with us sing Christian music but I've found that since people think I sound like Neil Diamond it's a great chance to get it out of the way by singing "America".

Now when I sing at venues and do Neil Diamond's "America" it tends to get it out of the way and it is an attention grabber too.  I now have more people coming up to tell me I'm the Christian Neil Diamond.

Somethin's Happened To Me

I have a lot of favorites on this CD and "Somethin's Happened To Me" is certainly one of them. Of the many of the songs my good friend Kevin Mannarino and I have written together the lyrics in this song mostly came from Kevin. The first time I read the lyrics I knew the song would be special. This has been a great audience participation song and is always a song I sing live. Words & Music by Kevin Mannarino & Jerry Corelli

Jerry Corelli

Somethin’s Happening To Me
Written January 15, 1999
Words by Kevin Mannarino & Jerry Corelli
Music by Jerry Corelli

Verse 1
As I lay on his couch my psychiatrist said,
That emptiness you’re feelin’ is all in your head.
Still, I left his office without a clue,
Not knowing who I was or what I should do.

Chorus 1
Somethin’, somethin’, somethin’s gotta happen to me.
I didn’t know what it could be.
Somethin’, somethin’, somethin’s gotta happen to me.
I needed somethin’ it was plain to see.
On the left side, right side and all around.
From the top to the bottom, inside and out.
Somethin’, somethin’, somethin’s gotta happen to me.
But I didn’t know what it could be.

Verse 2
I thought my life was over and I started to run.
Then one day I found out that Jesus is the one.
So I prayed that the Lord would come into my life.
My sins were washed away and I stepped into His light.

Chorus 2
And somethin’, somethin’, somethin happened to me.
Jesus came into my life.
And somethin’, somethin’, somethin happened to me.
My sins have all been washed away.
On the left side, right side and all around.
From the top to the bottom, inside and out.
somethin’, somethin’, somethin happened to me.
That’s right Jesus set me free.

Verse 3
Now I believe in His Love with all of my heart.
Now my eyes are open and I made a new start.
He reached right into me and embraced my soul.
Now I’ve got to sing out to both young and old.
(Repeat Chorus 2)

Recorded 1999 by Jerry Corelli / Song 304
Copyright 1999 Corelli’s Music Box
Published 1999 Corelli’s Music Box, BMI / BMI Work ID: 004736692

The Rock

It was just after my life was beginning to go through a total melt down and I knew rough times were ahead of me. So I sat down with my guitar and wrote what I would call my theme song. The Rock was first recorded and released on my "Standing on the Rock" CD in 1998. My cousin, Brett Helling, recorded the fantastic Lead and Electric guitars in the song but I had always wanted a few more things done to the song. The first recording of The Rock is really good and that version can be heard in my Live Television performance I've put on YouTube. The newer version on "Righteous Man" has subtle effects of rain & thunder, back ground vocals and string arrangements, that at the time I first recorded the song, I couldn't do. I classify the song as Christian Rock or Soft Rock however others seem to classify it a Christian Country. However you classify it I hope you enjoy it. Words & Music by Jerry Corelli

Jerry Corelli

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Righteous Man

Do you see Jesus in the things you do and do you believe you're a righteous man? That was what I was thinking about when I wrote this song. I've met so many people who believed they were righteous in God's eyes. And caught myself thinking I was righteous in God's eyes too. I am a righteous man because of the blood of Christ and Jesus dieing on the cross for my sins. But, I'm not always a righteous man in my thoughts, words and deeds all the time or most of the time. So, this song it is a reminder for me to continue striving to be a righteous man in God's eyes. I don't strive to be a righteous man to go to heaven, that's work righteousness. I strive to be a righteous man because it's pleasing to God.

Words & Music by Jerry Corelli

Jerry Corelli

"Righteous Man" Available of Cdbaby.com

Jerry Corelli Vocal Style

My first vocal performance was at the age of 14 or 15. I had written a song that "Billy Master" of the "The Archers" had re-written with me and performed it with Billy at a Winter Camp in Colorado sponsored by the church I attended, Calvary Temple. This would been the Winter of 72 or 73. I must say the response I received was infectious and I was hooked. From there I began singing in "The Jazz Choir" at Byers Junior High. I was so blessed by learning from two teachers at Byers, Sonya Hall and Dorothy Winteringham. Sonya was the Jazz Choir teacher and allowed me to do solos of songs I'd written. Not sing them but do them during performances in the auditorium (pictured right) for the school. In the ninth grade Sonya had severe back problems and was out for many months. I wrote a song called, "Mrs. Hall" and was able to sing it during a special performance in which she was able to attend.

Then the day came when a friend, Jim Drake, introduced me to a singer's album who, Jim said, I sounded like. I'd never heard the singer before but was very attracted to the singer's voice and songwriting when I heard "Longfellow Serenade". I took the album home and when I returned it to Jim he gave me another album that hooked me as a forever fan of Neil Diamond. The album was the incomporable "Hot August Night" and from that moment on I would end up buying every Neil Diamond album there was and would come out to this day.

Neil Diamond's style of singing though was also the style of many other artists of the day. Singers like Barbara Streisand, Karen Carpenter, John Denver, Jim Croce and others had the same easy listening and smooth style in their vocals. At the time I listened those singers and others too like Frank Sinatra and my fav Bing Crosby. It didn't take long for just about everyone who listened to my voice to always ask me, "Do you know who you sound like?" After awhile my favorite come back would be, "Why yes, Barry Manilow." It was fun for me to look at the expression on their face when I would say that and then they would of course correct me by seriously say, "No, Neil Diamond." At first I felt forever cursed but after awhile I learned to live with it and accept that everyone has to sound like someone and took it as a complement.