"Varying Degrees of Lemongello Perspective"

"Varying Degrees of Lemongello Perspective

By M.W. Lemongello

Like Peter Lemongello I too have managed to just fade away into everyday life. Minute by minute, day by day... Well, you get the picture. And this brings me to my point... Peter Lemon-WHO???

Lemongello spent the first part of his career as a cabaret singer, making several appearances on national TV, including 25 on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

His first two records were released under the name Pete Lemongello to no fanfare. In 1973 he signed to Epic Records. He released one single in December 1973. After it failed to chart, he was dropped from the Epic label.

Frustrated by his lack of album sales through the conventional music channels of the day, Peter decided not to fade quietly into the night. Instead, in the mid ‘70s, Peter came up with a plan to catapult himself to fame through the use of a campaign of a relentless series of TV ads that sold his album exclusively to the TV audience only.

Using a city-by-city marketing strategy, Peter and his partners began their Love '76 ad campaign with an around-the-dial TV blitz in the New York market starting January 1, 1976, and ran commercials on all six New York channels 70 to 100 times a week. Sales of the double album skyrocketed him to fame in the New York area and the campaign entered Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

There was a profile article in The New York Times in which Peter stated, "Look, what this country needs is a white, male superstar they can hang their hat on. They want him clean, and they want him now. That's why I'm playing it this way. I can be what they want."

Bob Pascuzzi, an acquaintance and fan of Peter's, agreed to bankroll a promotional rollout meant to generate interest from financial backers that would result in a deal for an album and concerts. Westbury Music Fair was rented for one show. An album was assembled with one side recorded in the studio; the other consisting of remixes of his tapes. One concert promoter conceded the show had sold 2,500 tickets but had his doubts whether Lemongello could repeat his success in cities with fewer Italians and where he had not advertised as heavily.

It was time for Peter to move on again in the music world. In April 1976, Lemongello signed on with Private Stock Records. He then ended his self-promotional efforts and released his second album, Do I Love You, in early 1977. Unfortunately, shortly afterwards Private Stock closed its doors and the album and its subsequent singles failed to chart.

Peter Lemongello also earned a brief turn in the limelight when Chevy Chase skewered him as “Peter Lemon Mood Ring” on Saturday Night Live. He has also appeared in the movie Fletch Lives in 1976.

But after the promotional blitz, when millions of fan clubs did not spring up from coast to coast and the booking agents stopped calling, Lemongello took the hint and decided to move on to another career choice to try and achieve success.

Lemongello later worked as a housing contractor in Florida. Early in the 1980s, Peter was accused of masterminding two acts of arson, having set fire to two luxury houses that his construction firm was working on near St. Petersburg, Florida. He was put on ten years’ probation for the crime and was ordered to pay $110,000 to insurance companies.

On January 15, 1982, Lemongello and his brother, bowler Mike Lemongello, were kidnapped from a construction site. Mike was forced to withdraw more than $50,000 from a bank and both were then left in the woods. Manny Seoane and Mark Lemongello (the brothers' cousin), both former MLB pitchers, turned themselves in to the police. In 1983 they were both sentenced to seven years' probation for the crime.

Though Peter has seen his share of setbacks throughout his careers, he has still stayed active in his love for music. Through the years he has been performing at many South Florida venues, in dinner theater in Branson, Missouri, and also appeared regularly in the summer in Atlantic City, on Long Island, and in upstate New York. 2012 brought along his one-man song and comedy show titled Meatballs, Matzo Balls and Lemon-Gello. In 2012 he also re-recorded his 1976 song "Can't Get Enough Of You Girl" with producer and songwriter Jimmy Michaels, which appears on the re-issue of the Michaels album More Things Change.

Note: As of 2019, Peter Lemongello's net worth was estimated to be around $2 million.

Like Peter we all endeavor to achieve high levels of success in our lives with good intention. A few of us do realize great degrees of success and sometimes even go on to see our dreams come true. But in all honesty, I believe that number to be a small fraction of the world's population.

Most of us will have to be happy just earning a middle class living and an honest day’s wage. And if we are lucky we may even moderately enjoy our job. Others may just be stuck in the daily grind of a day's work, continuously wishing the workweek away to get to our free time on the weekends.

Lessons learned from the Varying Degrees of Lemongello:

Always strive to do your best. And even when you've done your worst, don't give up.

Don't let yourself languish in a bad situation or a job too long; it will only end up hurting you in the long run.

Time is of the essence. Live in the present, not the past and always aspire to move forward in life.

Strike while the iron is hot, when opportunities presents themselves to you.

If there is no opportunity, make one for yourself by thinking outside the box!

Strive to get a job that gives you a sense of satisfaction in your life; otherwise, you will get caught up in the daily grind and become just another bad statistic in life.

Remember, task yourself to always give things your best shot and you will be Golden in life! Then it's all a Win-Win situation.

Signed a Gello Head

Note: Fortunately during my research, I was able find the information I sited in my story from the following sources on the internet:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Lemongello

https://infocelebs.com/peter-lemongello-net-worth/

https://people.com/archive/peter-lemongello-fizzled-as-a-torch-singer-but-police-claim-not-as-an-arsonist-vol-18-no-2/