Rico Turchetti

Rico Turchetti – 2019

In 1940, he invented the pedal steel guitar when he asked Joe Petteruti to help him attach a foot pedal to the top string on his guitar which would allow him to raise the pitch.

In 1930 at age 13, America Turchetti, of Providence, began to study the Hawaiian steel guitar with the area’s leading player, Joseph Petteruti, who led the top band of its kind in the Northeast, The Hawaiian Islanders. By the time he was 18, Rico had joined Joe’s band and was a full time musician. In 1940, he invented the pedal steel guitar when he asked Joe to help him attach a foot pedal to the top string on his guitar which would allow him to raise the pitch. After their first successful attempt, they enlisted the aid of Joe’s brother-in-law, Urbano “Benny” Falcone, a machinist in the jewelry industry, to begin making sturdy, precision parts for the guitar.

By the time he was drafted in 1944, there were four pedals on Rico’s instrument allowing him to raise and lower the pitch on several strings. He was seen by thousands performing with this guitar in Hawaii and in Japan during the Allied Occupation. After the war, he began working with Louis “Louie” Pirraglia, another steel guitarist who was a machinist and toolmaker by trade, to fabricate complex metal parts to continue expanding the harmonic capabilities of the instrument.

By 1952, Rico’s guitar had eight foot pedals and he became a contestant on Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts TV show. Godfrey immediately hired him as a regular on his variety show for the next two years which led to national record releases on the Derby and RCA Victor labels and national tours. Although there is evidence that others were experimenting with foot pedals in the 1940s and ‘50s, Rico had been working independently on his invention since 1940. By the time Sho-Bud and Fender began manufacturing pedal steels in 1957, he had 17 years of performing internationally and on television under his belt and had been seen and heard by millions. Rico passed away in 2005 and he was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 2006.

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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT - SONGWRITER JOE DOYLE TO BE INDUCTED APRIL 7:

The Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame (RIMHOF) will officially induct Nashville songwriter Joe Doyle of the Class of 2020 at his performance on April 7 at Blackstone River Theatre. Joe’s induction was delayed due to the Covid pandemic and scheduling difficulties. Tickets are on sale now:

Joe Doyle Induction

After graduating from the Berklee College of Music, Joe Doyle of Riverside moved to Nashville in January, 1988 to pursue a career as a songwriter. Originally a drummer, during college he’d learned to play guitar and piano and developed an interest in songwriting. It didn’t take long for those in the know in “music city” to recognize his talents - he signed his first songwriting contract in April of that year with publishing giant BMG Music. This began a 10-year run of recordings of his songs by the biggest stars in country music including Reba McEntire, Dan Seals, Martina McBride, Rhett Akins and Alabama. Since then, superstars including Kenny Rogers, Jason Aldean and Tim McGraw have covered his material.

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ARTIE CABRAL (1940-2023)

It is with great sorrow that the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame notes the passing of 2017 inductee Artie Cabral. He was a world-renowned jazz drummer and a dedicated music educator. He began his career in 1956 and spent two decades touring the world with a host of jazz masters including Stan Kenton, Dakota Staton and Mel Torme. In 1969, he joined Woody Herman’s Seventh (and final) Herd which included backing R&B great Dionne Warwick. Along with bassist Bob Petteruti and pianist Mike Renzi he played with the house band at the Kings & Queens in Pawtucket in the 1960s and Allary in Providence in the 1970s backing the guest artists including Blossom Dearie, Mose Allison, Johnny Hartman and Phil Woods. He discography includes recordings with Ben Webster, Carol Sloane, Toshiko Akioshi and Greg Abate. He taught in the Pawtucket Public Schools, at Berklee and the R.I. School of Music. He served as President of the Providence Federation of Musicians for 20 years.

Funeral arrangements and obituary may be seen here:
Funeral info and obituary

CAROL SLOANE (1937-2023): It is with great sadness that the Board of Directors of the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame notes the passing of 2016 inductee Carol Sloane. Jazz vocalist Carol Sloane was born in Providence, grew up in Smithfield, and began her professional career in 1951 singing with Rhode Island society band leader Ed Drew. She first gained national attention in the late 1950s when she joined the orchestra of Larry Elgart with whom with she recorded for RCA Victor. In 1961, Jon Hendricks of the legendary vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, who had become a fan of Carol’s after hearing her at a jazz festival, helped her secure her first booking at The Village Vanguard opening for Oscar Peterson. He next convinced the producers of the Newport Jazz Festival to include her in their “New Stars” program that summer, a showcase for emerging talent. She garnered rave reviews for her performance and was heard by a representative of Columbia records. Columbia signed her and she recorded an album a few months later. Released in 1962, "Out Of The Blue" was unanimously praised by the press and launched her on a solo career which has continued for nearly six decades. She has recorded more than two dozen critically-acclaimed, internationally released albums as a leader in the company of dozens of jazz legends and giants including Clark Terry, Tommy Flanagan, Bob Brookmeyer, Art Farmer, Jim Hall, Sir Roland Hanna, Ben Webster and Phil Woods, just to name a few, and she continues to perform. In a 2007 review of her album “Dearest Duke,” Matt Schudel of The Washington Post wrote, ”If Carol Sloane isn't America's greatest living jazz singer, then no one deserves the title.”

JOHN ROSSI (1942-2022): It is with great sadness that the Board of Directors of the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame notes the passing of 2012 inductee John Rossi who was inducted with the first class as a member of Roomful Blues. When John left The Hamilton-Bates Blue Flames to join Roomful in 1970, he brought with him a deep love and encyclopedic knowledge of the larger Rock ‘n’ Roll bands which sported horn sections including Fats Domino’s and Little Richard’s Upsetters. His mastery of the styles of New Orleans’ greatest R&B drummers Earl Palmer, Smokey Johnson and Charles Conner not only maintained and refined the group’s unique style of swing, but brought a harder rocking edge to their sound. He remained with the group for their first 11 albums. He is seen here at left in 1970 shortly after joining with the first 7-piece/3-saxophone lineup of Roomful: John, Duke Robillard, Ed Parnagoni, Rich Lataille, Greg Piccolo, Doug James and Al Copley in front at the piano. His obituary may be seen here:
Obituary
For more information on this great Rhode Island musician, visit the Roomful of Blues page at the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame Historical Archive:
Historical Archive

ROBERT “BOB” PETTERUTI (1929-2022): It is with deep sadness that the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame notes the passing of Robert Petteruti. Bob was considered the dean of bass players in Rhode Island. Over several generations, he instructed and mentored dozens of our finest musicians, on the bass and other instruments, at the Twin City Music stores in Providence and Pawtucket founded in 1932 by his father, guitarist and bandleader Joseph Petteruti. He was also a faculty member at Brown University, Community College of Rhode Island and Dean Junior College serving as a double bass applied music instructor. Over the course of his 70 year career, Bob anchored the rhythm section for every major jazz figure to pass through Rhode Island. A fraction of the list of musicians he backed as member of the house bands at famed Rhode Island jazz nightspots the Celebrity Club, the Kings and Queens and Allary includes Roy Eldridge, Bobby Hackett, Mose Allison, Zoot Sims, Duke Ellington and Ben Webster.

JON CAMPBELL (1951-2022): It is with great sadness that the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame notes the passing of 2019 inductee Jon Campbell. After several decades focusing on instrumental music, playing with Uilleann Piper Pat Sky and Irish ceili bands in Denver, Boston and Providence, Jon Campbell of Peace Dale began making up songs. Over the course of several decades, he released a series of albums with songs on subjects such as regional cuisine, tourists, swamp Yankees, commercial fishing, politics and local history. His work has been archived by the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution and the Rhode Island Historical Society. 95% of his performances took place “line of sight to salt water.” On the eve of his induction into the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame, Jon summed up his uniquely “Rhode Island” career in this way, “When you live in an interesting place where interesting people are doing interesting things, all you have to do is make it rhyme.”

GERRY GRANAHAN (1932-2022): It is with deep sadness that the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame notes the passing of 2012 inductee Gerry Granahan. Although a Pennsylvania native, Gerry has been a resident of Rhode Island and a fixture on the Ocean State’s music scene since 1963. He first found Top 40 success in New York in the late 1950s as a singer-songwriter with "No Chemise, Please,” and as a singer, songwriter and producer with his two vocal groups, Dicky Doo & The Don'ts and The Fireflies. By the early 1960s, Gerry had started his own label, Caprice Records, where he pioneered the girl group sound and matched Motown's crossover success with several hits from R&B legend James Ray. In 1964, Gerry took over the A&R department at United Artists Records and was responsible for the most successful era in that company's history. As a producer and songwriter, he racked up a long string of hit singles and albums with Jay & The Americans, Patty Duke and comedian Pat Cooper, among many others.

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