Veteran Milwaukee singer Jerry Grillo has built a career on stages across the city. Now, after celebrating 50 years of entertaining, he's crooned a love letter to his adopted hometown.
Last year, we caught up with Grillo, a Minnesota native, to talk about his life and his career in Milwaukee, on the occasion of his landmark anniversary.
"It's time to celebrate the city with a song," Grillo says of his new release, which you can hear here:
"John Dye, the owner of the Jazz Estate, Bryant's and At Random, suggested that I write a song about Milwaukee," says Grillo. "There is such a big buzz about this city at this time, I was totally inspired. This is Milwaukee's time to shine.
"Visit Milwaukee is interested in licensing the song. They like it."
You can buy a download of the Frank Sinatra-inspired song – which is like our own "New York, New York," "L.A. Is My Lady" or "My Kind of Town (Chicago Is)" – at Amazon.
This past holiday season, Grillo also released another new song, called "Where Was Christmas?"
You can also hear him perform it live, tonight at the Jazz Estate at 8 p.m. and Saturday night at The Cheel in Thiensville, at 9 p.m.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
