Since he was only four years old, Joey has always had a song in his heart. From the time he sang in the church choir and became a candidate for St. Michael’s School Choir, Joey had always dreamed of someday recording and performing. As it turned out, he began performing before he ever recorded. Once out of school, Joey did double duty as a singer as well as a deejay. However, he never combined the two. You wouldn’t catch him singing if he was on deejay duty and visa versa. During the hippie era, Joey spent a lot of time in the Yorkville district moonlighting as a guest vocalist. He was well known with the bands who played the clubs. He regularly showed up at clubs that featured Jack London & The Sparrows. His association with the group stayed intact. Later in the sixties when they would become Steppenwolf, ironically, Joey would be the one responsible for making “Born To Be Wild” an international hit. A highlight of his earlier years was being thrown on a concert bill with The Righteous Bros., Andy Kim, Little Eva and Big Dee Irwin. It was his first big gig as a solo vocalist complete with Canada’s most popular band “The Regents”. He was on the road for some time with his own Joey Cee Review featuring his dancers “The Blue Jeans”. During his time at CKFH Radio there was discussion with Neil Diamond of Joey Cee recording one of his songs with the help of Neil himself. Later, even Bobby Vinton’s management was interested in getting him on record. The timing was off because he was still in radio and that would have been a conflict of interest for a music director.
It wasn’t until he left CKFH that he was able to pursue his dream as a recording artist and as fate would have it, he hit on his first record deal in a very short time. Armed with a packaged idea, two songs from an obsolete UK released album dug up from his mega music library and an abundance of confidence, he approached Capitol Records and landed a production and release deal immediately which saw him record his first single as the artist JOSEPH. He was accompanied by a full church choir and orchestra including top Canadian musicians Eric Nagler, Bruce Pennycooks, Dennis Pendrith, and Terry Clark. The two tracks “Any Dream Will Do” and the flip side “Close Every Door” were released in October 1970. The record received major airplay in Canada and the USA. Written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, this new recording breathed new life into the little known musical known as Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Ten years later the same song won the Tony Award for best Song from the award winning hit musical on Broadway. The song has been recorded by many artists since, and the two songs are still the focal tracks of the entire musical. This proved that Joey’s musical instincts were firmly intact.
This was followed by a song written for him by Ronnie King of The Stampeders, who had recently hit big with “Sweet City Woman” and were Canada’s biggest group at the time. The song “Oh What The Summer Can Do” was released by A&M Records and was a hit in Canada. A few years later he teamed up with The Stampeders’ manager Mel Shaw and released a new updated version of Phil Phillips “Sea Of Love” under the recording pseudonym of The Puppies on Private Stock Records. The record received great reviews in Billboard Magazine and other trade publications and went on to be a moderate hit in Canada and many parts of the U.S.A. This particular rendition of the recording caught the attention of Jeff Beck which resulted in the Honeydrippers recording the song five years later featuring Robert Plant. A second release by The Puppies “Love Is All Around Us” didn’t fair as well but ended up on the soundtrack for “All In Good Taste” which starred Jim Carry in his first non-speaking and nudity role.
Striking out on his own, with his new Nightflite Records label, he composed and recorded the first recorded and naturally, released tribute to John Lennon just after his death. The song “Remember December” was used by many radio and television stations worldwide to highlight the one year anniversary of Lennon’s death.
Just a few years earlier, Joey along with his colleague and friend Tony Micallef, recorded a tribute to the country they were born in. As a limited edition release, the self-composed recording titled “Island of St. Paul” became a hit with the country of Malta and other Mediterranean countries resulting in both Joey and Tony embarking on a concert tour. The song has since served as an unofficial anthem of sorts being used on airline commercials and movie soundtracks.
Although his recording activities have slowed down in the past decade, he is preparing for a comeback as a poet and vocalist to support the publishing of his poetry books.
He is continuing to write music for other artists. Recently he wrote and recorded the title song and finale number for the touring variety stage production of “Simply Magic” featuring magicians, singers, comedians and dancers. All the music tracks used in the show were also produced by Joey.