About Louis Biancaniello

It seems Louis "Kingpin" Biancaniello was simply born to make music; he began taking piano lessons at age seven, joined a rock band at age eight, and was performing professionally by age nine.

Eight years old may seem a bit young to be in a band, but he had family along for the ride. "My brother is a couple of years older than me, and he was playing guitar. He was about eleven and already in a band, and they needed another member," says Biancaniello. "Originally I was a singer in the band, and then they realized I played keyboards, too. It was kind of hard to carry a piano around, so my parents got me an electronic keyboard."

After high school, Biancaniello began attending college in San Mateo, California. "I was working, putting myself through college. Yet, at the time, it seemed like I had to go out on the road to make a living. So, that's what I did." He continued playing the club circuit with his band, as well as doing some studio work -- then the big leagues came to call.

Biancaniello's "first career move," as he calls it, came when he became musical director for the singer Sylvester in 1977. His first show in this new position was at New York City's famed Madison Square Garden; however, what would normally be a frightening, sink-or-swim situation for most twenty year olds, was seen by Biancaniello as a chance to showcase everything he had worked so hard to perfect.

He remained Sylvester's musical director for three years. During this time, he was based out of Fantasy Studios, where Sylvester had his record deal. He served as a "house keyboardist" for producer Harvey Fuqua, working on various Fantasy releases such as The Weather Girls, Jeanie Tracy, and several of Sylvester's albums.

In the early 1980s, Biancaniello joined Marty Balin as an arranger/keyboardist for his first solo tour, and remained with him during the recording of his second solo album, Lucky, with Grammy-winning producer Val Garay. At this time, Biancaniello had also started working for producer Rick Nowels, doing jingle work in the bay area of Northern California.

The rest of the 1980s saw Biancaniello working on multiple projects, including another band, working as musical director of a local TV show, as well as session work on albums by artists like Rick James, and The Whispers. The best big career leap came in 1989, when he joined forces with producer Narada Michael Walden.

Louis Biancaniello had been friends with the legendary producer/composer, Walter Afanasieff for many years, and when Walden needed help in the form of a keyboardist/arranger, Afanasieff immediately suggested Louis Biancaniello to him. The pairing with Walden led to years of working with successful artists such as Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, and Lou Rawls.

Another of the artists Walden and Biancaniello worked with was the harmony group Color Me Badd, of which Sam Watters was a member. Biancaniello and Walden worked on the song "The Earth, the Sun, the Rain" from Color Me Badd's 1996 album, Now & Forever.

After branching out on his own, away from Walden, Louis Biancaniello played a major part in the creation of Color Me Badd's final album, Awakening, in 1998. Biancaniello co-wrote, produced, arranged, and played instruments on the songs "Love is Stronger than Pride," "Your Touch," "I'll Never Love This Way Again," "Remember When," and "It's Gonna Be Alright."

After Color Me Badd disbanded in late 1998, Louis Biancaniello and Sam Watters joined forces as "Breakthrough Creations," sometimes known as "Mzmeriq."

The rest, as they say, is history.

* Biancaniello quotes, and most information in this biography are from B.W. Bland's article in the Spring, 1990 issue of Monitor magazine (thanks to Gabbie for that). This biography was comprised by Patricia M. Henderson ("B&W" fanlisting co-founder).