Sal's Bio…

Southern rock has a unique sound and a broad base of devoted fans like no other music genre. To be a great southern rocker requires a special insight and sound, put into action by pure talent that comes straight from the very core. This talent and insight come together in the music of an Italian son in the cold north of Canada.

Born Maurizio Salvatore Piamonte during the year of the Tiger, Sal Piamonte has lived most of his life in Ottawa, Ontario. The son of a father from Sicily and a mother from Northern Italy, Sal was raised in a middle class, Italian household in Canada, strong in the values of family, hard work and perseverance. His father ran the family construction business and his mother, a professional seamstress for top Italian designers by the age of 15, worked as an executive assistant at a soft drink bottling company in Ottawa until she was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. Her illness motivated Sal to study and earn his college degree in neuroscience. In fact, Sal also happens to be a successful psychological profiler for a provincial police force by day, and local rock star by night. Over the course of the last 10 years he has tested, interviewed and counseled everyone from prisoners, to autistic children, patients with brain damage and even paranoid schizophrenics.

But music is his first real, true love. This lifelong affair with music and the guitar began at age 5 on a trip with his mother to Australia. "I remember pretending to play the guitar on this plastic little guitar they had bought for me. When we returned to Canada, I asked my mom to buy me a real guitar and she wasted no time putting me in lessons."

Sal's devotion to his music was encouraged by all in his household. "My maternal grandmother was like a second mother to me. She would encourage me to practice my guitar in this little room at the back of the house," he recounts. "I remember opening the window, and shouting out to an imaginary crowd the introduction to the next song I was going to play."

Although advised to practice in 20-minute sessions, Sal's affinity for the guitar kept him practicing for hours at a time. The first time his parents realized his talent was when they left him alone in the basement to watch his favorite television show, "The Greatest American Hero," only to find that he had transcribed the entire musical introduction to the theme song "Believe It Or Not" on a sheet of music paper...and he could play it too! His love was furthered by his mother's affinity for Bob Seger, Top 40 Hit music, and a chance run-in with Chubby Checker.

Sal's live performances began at age 7. "I remember my very first public performance was on the front steps of my grandmother's house in Ottawa. There were road workers outside, all of whom happened to be older Italian men taking their lunch break. They sat around our steps watching me, baffled that this little Italian kid was playing Italian folk songs on the guitar." That was it for Sal. He was hooked. "There is no better feeling that watching people sing the words to your own songs. I think that's why I've never been much of a cover song guy," Sal tells. "Throughout most of my career, I have worked hard to strengthen, expand and showcase my original catalogue of music."

His inspiration is found in the diverse music of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, Santana, Marvin Gaye, the Black Crowes, Lenny Kravitz and many others whose music reveals the same passion to write lyrics that communicates a personal, yet common story.

"I do believe that we ARE our experiences and my experiences are told in my music," he explains. "The beauty about music and its message is that it is a vicious circle. The more it circulates, the clearer the message becomes. It's the ultimate propaganda.It's the ultimate autobiography."