Billy Joel's Original Saxophone Player Richie Cannata on the Long Island Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame Podcast

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Born in Brooklyn, Richie Cannata later moved with his parents to Garden City South, where he blossomed as a tenor sax musician. He played in school bands and with fellow local musicians, perfecting his trade on the local music scene as a live performer and studio musician.

One day in 1975 when Cannata was in the studio, engineer Al Stegmeyer suggested that Cannata call his brother Doug, who had recently gotten a gig as Billy Joel’s bass player. The band was looking for a sax player. Cannata joined Joel and the guys for the recording of the multiplatinum album Turnstiles. He would tour with Joel and work alongside him in the studio for the next five years, contributing to multiplatinum records The Stranger, 52nd Street, Glass Houses and Songs in the Attic. 

In the mid-1990s, Cannata also toured with The Beach Boys. Additionally, he became a music producer, producing albums for Phoebe Snow, Rita Coolidge, Corey Hart, and Tommy Shaw. He founded Glen Cove’s Cove City Sound Studios, which is a favorite for major headliner names to record their upcoming music. 

He is the musical director of former New York Yankee and Latin Grammy-nominated jazz artist Bernie Williams and his band.

In 2014 Richie and his former Billy Joel band members, The Lords of 52nd Street, were inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame where they decided to reunite after a 30-year separation. 

After their Hall of Fame induction, The Lords of 52nd Street picked up their instruments yet again, and began performing in front of live audiences together.

​The Lords finally returned to the stage to a sold out crowd at The Space at Westbury in February 2016. The Lords of 52nd Street are touring regularly since their return in early 2016.

This interview originally aired on Tom Needham's THE SOUNDS OF FILM.

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