Vernon Neilly was born May 10th at Clark Air Base in the Philippines. Shortly thereafter his family moved to their native home of Nassau, Bahamas. Vernon’s mother Verna an accomplished pianist, violinist, would be very instrumental in his early musical development. Vernon studied piano, and sang in his grandfather’s church choir at the age of 6, at 10 he started playing around with guitars. His family moved to Hawaii at age 14 when Vernon started playing in his first real performing band. He studied music all through high school, and played in various bands that did clubs, and casuals. Vernon then moved to Miami where he attended his last 2 years of college, this move put him in the company of people who would eventually be legends in the music business, such as Jaco Pastorious, Pat Metheny, “Narada” Michael Walden, Hiram Bullock, and many others who attended Miami. Vernon a communications major after completing his studies, got a job working at the 1 radio station in South Florida WEDR(99Jamz) as an air personality. Vernon also started playing with a Miami based group called “Unit III” who had a regional hit single, this would prove to be the launching of his professional career as a musician/producer/artists, and which has led him to being label owner of his own internationally distributed company, Boosweet Records, the very well known independent label based in Los Angeles, Ca. that has been releasing products successfully since 1999 on the internet.
At this point Vernon has recorded with, toured with, produced for some of the most legendary names in the music business such as the late blues legend “Johnny Guitar Watson”, “Etta James”, Temptations ,Ollie Woodson, Charles Wright, Charles “Merry Christmas” Brown, “The Dramatics”, Motown hit producer “Norman Whitfield”, rap star “Warren G”, “Howard Hewitt”, “Teena Marie”, Cuba Gooding Sr. (Main Ingredient), George Clinton, and too many more to list here.
He produced and mastered the 18 artist compilation disc “United By Tone” in conjunction with the worlds leading guitar pickup manufacturer, “Seymour Duncan”. This highly acclaimed limited edition disc features some of the most notable names in the guitar world such as, Slash, Jerry Horton(Papa Roach), Jennifer Batten(Jeff Beck, Michael Jackson),Gary Hoey, Jimmy Bruno, Seymour Duncan , and Vernon, who’s track “Nassau Nights” is the first song on the disc.
Vernon’s career went to another level with the release of his CD “G-Fire”, which garnered a prestigious contemporary jazz award. This award was given for having a top 20 most played contemporary jazz release at commercial radio 2003-2004. The success of “G-Fire” was so substantial that it allowed Vernon to sign a multi-year national retail deal for his label Boosweet Records with Synergy Distribution. Vernon followed up the success of “G-Fire,” with “G-Fire II” which also played nationally/internationally on commercial, college, cable, satellite, and Internet radio stations. “G-Fire II” also won the distinguished jazz award making Vernon a 2 time consecutive winner. Vernon and the “G-Fire II” CD also joined the top artist in the contemporary jazz genre such as Herbie Hancock, Gerald Albright, Mindi Abair, Everett Harp, George Benson, Lee Ritenour, by ranking in the Top 10 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Albums Retail Charts. Currently his label is being distrubuted at retail outlets by Burnside Distribution Corp and digitally by IODA.
Vernon and his CD’s have also been featured in magazines such as Guitar Player, Guitar World, Guitar One, 20th Century Guitar, Vintage Guitar, Jazz Improv Magazine, Jazz Times, Down Beat, Urban Network, Ebony, Our Weekly, Guitar Player Brazil, Cover Guitarra (Brazil), Smooth Jazz News, Abyss Jazz, All About Jazz, and many others, and also a myriad of newspapers, and e-zines globally. Songs from his CD’s have been used on programs like MTV’s Made, and BET’s “Jazz Impressions” programs.
Vernon has just released his new CD, Vernon Neilly & Friends “A Tribute To Stevie Wonder”, that was recorded on 3 continents, Europe, South America, and North America. This CD features along with Vernon some big international artists such as Greg Howe (Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake), Kiko Loureiro (Angra,Tarja) U-Nam, Michael Paulo (Al Jarreau, Earth Wind & Fire), Bill Hudson(Cellador, Power Quest, Circle II Circle), Grammy Award winning bassist Juan Nelson(Vesta Williams, Ben Harper), and others paying homage to the musical genius that is Stevie Wonder.
Extending his career to acting, Vernon can also be seen on the big screen, TV, and DVD in 3 major film company releases, Universals “Along Came Polly”, Warner Bros. “Starsky and Hutch”, and he recently participates in Columbia Pictures “Walk Hard” . Vernon has also appeared in the UPN Network’s hit television sitcom “One On One”, and “Girlfriends”, both programs that are now in syndication internationally.
Vernon is one of only a handful of musicians in the world to have both a signature guitar manufactured for him bearing his name, and a signature guitar string, they are called respectively called the Tagima VN-1 signature guitar, and Giannini Vernon Neilly “Power String”. This entertainment industry veteran with his international following has helped the companies that he has worked with, and currently works with, grow greater exposure for their products whether it be through his work in the studio, on stage, in films and TV, print magazine ads, or special marketing campaigns like the “Six String Extravaganza”, that he did with guitar god Steve Vai.
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