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MP3 Nick Spondyl - Diaspora
7 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Hard Rock, WORLD: World Traditions
Details:
Nicholas John Spondyl was born in Canton, Ohio on January 10, 1957. His father John, a refugee from Turkey, lived in Greece from 1922 to 1928. He arrived in the United States in 1928. His father returned to Greece in 1952 to marry his mother Maria Angelidou. Both parents were Pontian Greeks.
Nick grew up in a very diverse community in the downtown urban section of Canton. This diversity was very evident in the family''s household as three different languages were spoken. Nick recalls, "My parents spoke Pontian to each other, Greek to my sister Elizabeth and I and then eventually I would speak just English to my parents".
At age five Nick remembers his family''s first experience with music - his sister began taking piano lessons and he would sit and practice with her. This was around the same time he had seen The Beatles perform on The Ed Sullivan Show. That inspired him to cut a guitar out of cardboard, add "strings", (made of yarn), decorate it and play and sing around the house.
At age 10 he got his first real guitar, a red acoustic. Nick laughs, "It was purchased with the yellow top value stamps you received from shopping at Kroger''s Grocery Store". He took guitar lessons at Gattuso''s Music store for six months. He had a difficult time playing chords so stopped taking lessons but never stopped practicing.
In 1970 at the age of 13 Nick saved $130 from his newspaper route and wanted to buy a set of drums that was on display in the window of a local pawn shop. Because of the potential banging his mother discouraged him from buying the drums. Instead he bought his first electric guitar with a small amplifier. "It was a $19 amp with a 3" speaker but I was officially wired!" he said.
In the summer of 1971, Nick was jamming on the saxophone with some neighborhood friends to the vamp of "Who Knows" by Jimi Hendrix. When finished the guys sat and played the entire record "Band of Gypsies" by Hendrix. "I was in awe!" Nick recalls. "That was it - I was going to focus more on the guitar and I started to practice for hour''s everyday". Jokingly Nick said, "I wanted to become the "Greek Hendrix!". Along with Hendrix, Nick was heavily influenced by guitarists Carlos Santana, Mark Farner (Grand Funk), Terry Kath (Chicago), and the legendary Frank Zappa.
Nick''s experience with diversity has become an asset to his musical strengths. Smiling, he remembers his youth; "Every Sunday after church was "Greek Day". Our family would visit or be visited. We would eat, listen to stories about the old country, eat, play and listen to Greek and Pontian music and, of course, eat. On my own and in the neighborhood I would listen to Motown and Rock n'' Roll".
At the age of 17 Nick helped form a Greek band named "The Golden Fleece" which played weddings, fairs and festivals in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and West Virginia. The band recorded an album in 1976. In 1981 he joined the Hellenic Stars of Northeast Ohio.
Nick graduated from McKinley High School in 1975. He graduated from Kent State University with a Masters Degree in Education. While attending college he enrolled in musical classes and played with the school''s jazz band. He has been an educator for more then 20 years.
Nick is married to Annamarie (Kalaitsides) Spondyl. He is the proud father of four children - Antonio, Yianni, Maria and Spyro. He is also grandfather to a beautiful new grandson Nikolas.
It has always been a personal goal of Nick''s to create and record original material. His belief has always been that "Music provides a unique way to express yourself like no other way". He decided to combine his western and eastern musical influences together, along with his family''s history and culture to create his solo debut release "DIASPORA". "With "DIASPORA" I hope to touch the lives of people whose ancestors struggled to make a better life for themselves, their families and their future generations".
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