Bruce Sudano — Still Brooklyn’s Finest
When Bruce Sudano takes the stage at The Cutting Room in New York City Thursday night, he’s not doing it as a Californian or just any singer-songwriter releasing a new album. For him, it’s a home game, a return to the place where it all began for him and where everything will always circles back to.
“When I get off the plane, I kind of have the same feeling like I used to when I got off the bus or came off the subway,” he said. “I’m just at a different stop. But I’m here.”
The zip code may have changed, but the 68-year-old’s heart will always be in Brooklyn, and that’s not just evident on the track “Coney Island Days” from his latest album, 21st Century World. It’s in his voice, in his worldview and in all his songs, whether subtle or overt.
In other words, the soul of the city still shines through, and while some with his track record would use a career’s worth of success as a signal to start slowing down, Sudano is stepping on the gas, not just with the new album, but while working on a musical based on the songs and life of his late wife, Donna Summer. Yeah, he’s still as hungry as he was when he first started on this journey and looked at New York City as the center of the universe.
“To me, this was a dream that was attainable because, ‘Hey, it’s just right over the bridge. So maybe I could get there,’” he recalls. “And then I worked hard. I didn’t feel that I was that particularly talented, but I had a big desire for it. I went at it and worked at it and listened and called people.”
And after graduating from the clubs in Brooklyn to the clubs in Manhattan, where he played six days a week while also going to St. John’s University in Queens, he got a break when Tommy James walked in the club while Sudano was playing.
“At the particular time, he was one of the biggest pop stars in America,” Sudano said of James. “I got to meet him, he came to see the band and I would go to his apartment on breaks to try to write songs with him. He was very generous and gracious and, in a sense, he took me under his wing and took me into the recording studio with him so I could see how stuff was done.”
The ambitious Sudano never looked back, putting together a body of work that’s still adding compelling chapters. Yet he doesn’t act like someone with such a resume, a testament to blue collar values and his insistence that what he has done over the years wasn’t a gift, but a craft he worked hard to become proficient in.
“It’s a craft, so you have to work at it and develop it and get better at it,” he said. “And then hopefully, at some point, you tap into some inspiration and stuff flows. For me, I still don’t know how it really happens. I choose to be a grateful guy. I feel like I’m blessed and I carry on and do my part.”
But the million dollar question is, was he star-struck when he first met James, who may be showing up at The Cutting Room on Thursday?
“I was very driven as a kid,” Sudano said. “So I was probably star-struck (Laughs), but I wanted to succeed and I wanted to learn and to know. And he was gracious and generous. I owe him a lot.”
Bruce Sudano plays The Cutting Room in NYC on Thursday, May 11. For tickets, click here.
For more information on Bruce Sudano, click here
