Eric Hanson
Frank Amato.
“[Amalon] is our two last names put together — Amato and Dillon,” Amato says one afternoon over beers and appetizers at Great Lakes Brewing Company. In addition to DJing and playing with the locally based Cleveland All-Stars, Amato also records bands at the studio he’s built into his home. On Saturday, Aug. 19, the Beachland Ballroom will host the first official Frank Amato Producer’s Showcase. Amato will MC the event and join locals 6 Turning 4 Burning, Dreamstreet and Gracie Olivia on stage to sing harmony vocals. “I wanted to call it Dilmato, but she didn’t like that. It would be great for a ketchup company or canned tomatoes.”
Born in Cleveland, Amato grew up in a musical family. His father, Frank “Papa” Amato, was a recording artist on Dot Records. Known as “The Singing Fireman,” he opened for Elvis Presley back in the ’50s. Amato, who started a covers band when he was still in high school, developed an affinity for production after he took audio engineering classes at Agency Recording. All the while, Amato played in a number of local rock bands. Beau Coup, arguably the most successful of the bunch, became the Buzzard house band, playing Listener Appreciation concerts for WMMS. One such show with John Waite drew an audience of more than 40,000 to Mall C.
When Beau Coup wasn’t touring and recording, Amato worked as an audio engineer for Westwood One Networks under the guidance of his mentor, Arnie Rosenberg, whom he met at Agency Recording, where he worked with such bands as Jimmy Buffett, Brian Adams and Joe Walsh. In addition, Amato helped Bart Koster build his Right Track Studios and worked there as an audio engineer, joining staff members Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Steve Cox of the Dazz Band and Pete Tokar.
Initially, Amato and Dillon, who married in 1992, began hosting karaoke nights in the early ’90s when they filled in for the late Vicki Sue Winston, another WMMS alumnus, who used to have a karaoke gig at a bar by Great Northern Mall.
“It was pretty cool,” says Amato. “Back then, it was these big Pioneer laser discs. [Winston] asked us to fill in for her. The two of us just started doing karaoke, and it blew up. We did all these bar gigs. It morphed from karaoke to a full-blown DJ company.”
There was a time period in the mid-’90s when the couple moved to Detroit so that Dillon could work for what Amato refers to as the [former WMMS morning show DJs] Jeff and Flash of Detroit. She worked at the classic rock station.”
While in Detroit, Amato worked at the Detroit Recording Studio with owner/producer RJ Rice. He then became an audio engineer at the Southfield studios, working with the likes of Slum Village, J. Dilla, Janet Jackson, A Tribe Called Quest and Shaquille O'Neill.
After returning to Cleveland, Amato started seeking out the city’s local talent; he touts the talents of the three acts who’ll perform at the upcoming showcase. Dreamstreet and 6T4B are both rock bands that draw from different musical wells. Psychedelic rock inspires 6T4B; Foreigner and Journey have inspired Dreamstreet.
“6T4B's influences are the Doors, Grand Funk Railroad and Pink Floyd," says Amato. They started as a three-piece prog rock band. They have songs that are 10 and 11 minutes long. They’re all about recording organically with live drums. Dreamstreet is the same thing. They’re very AOR, melodic ’80s-into-the-’90s influence. They’re all about recording with live drums in a studio too.”
Amato actually met Olivia through his dentist.
“I met her a couple of years ago; her father is musician and a dental specialist,” he says. “I’m sitting there for a root canal, and the dentist says my insurance won’t cover the whole thing. It’ll be 1800 dollars more. I asked him to trade recording time. He agreed, and he brought his daughter, who’d been writing songs since she was 8 or 9. She plays multiple instruments and sings and writes. I started recording her, and she was really good.”
“The Moment,” the most recent track Olivia cut with Amato, is a beautiful piano ballad with hushed vocals that sounds like something from Billie Eilish or Michelle Branch.
Amato, who also puts together a special Christmas show every year with a group he calls the Cleveland All Stars, says he devotes some of the proceeds from everything he does to Autism Society of Greater Cleveland, a charity devoted to raising awareness about autism.
“I have autism in my family,” he says. “My grandson, who is my stepson’s son, has autism. My youngest son Derek has Asperger’s. He’s on the spectrum, and it’s mild. I think it really makes him more of a genius, though he doesn’t like it when you say that. He’s pretty damn smart. And so, I try to do as much as I can for autism.”
Frank Amato's Producers Showcase with 6 Turning 4 Burning, Dreamstreet and Gracie Olivia, 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 19, Beachland Ballroom, 15711 Waterloo Rd., 216-383-1124. Tickets: $15 ADV, $20 DOS, beachlandballroom.com.
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