Michael Vincent Liuzza

Liuzza had to put inherited musical talent to use

An American Idol contestant in 2005 and gigging musician since 2000, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Liuzza is about to embark upon his greatest musical adventure yet.

Liuzza, bass player Sly Bailey and sound man John Paul Schilling have plane tickets to Dublin, Ireland, and ferry tickets from Dublin to London and London to Amsterdam. With just one formal gig scheduled, they leave next month for three months in the British Isles and continental Europe.

“I have 87 days in Europe with no rules, no money and my art,” Liuzza said. “I’m gonna bring my original sound there and perform anywhere possible. I’ll be on the street as soon as I get off the plane.”
A burly 27-year-old from Marrero who’s lived in Baton Rouge since 2000, Liuzza sold his house in Central but he’s keeping a post office box in Greenwell Springs. His musician parents took news of their son’s European sojourn in relative stride.

“My mother started tearing up, but she said, ‘It’s time.’ And my dad, his only response was, ‘You gotta tell me about Amsterdam. And you gotta send me a postcard!’ Very simple humans. They gotta a lot of hippies in New Orleans still.”

Liuzza was born into a musical household. His parents met while they were performing on Bourbon Street in the 1970s. His mother is a singer who remembers her son engaging in call-and-response with her from his crib. Liuzza also made a beeline to his dad’s piano as soon as he could reach the keys.

“I woke up and fell asleep every day to the piano,” he said. 

But growing up in Marrero in a family that depended upon music for its income was tough.

“A lot of good music in the house, a whole lot of love and not a lot of money,” Liuzza said. “That lifestyle in New Orleans, it’s difficult.”

Liuzza got early performance experience as a 7-year-old singing in the otherwise adult Immaculate Conception Church choir. He got so much informal exposure to music at home that he learned to play piano, trumpet, guitar and bass without being able to read a note of music.

But having watched his mother and father struggle, Liuzza found the prospect of being a professional musician terrifying. Like many children, he rebelled against his parents.

“Coming out of elementary school, football was my No. 1 priority,” he said.
There wasn’t time for much music anyway. Because tuition isn’t cheap, Liuzza worked his way through Catholic high school and LSU.

“I spent more time skipping class to go to work to pay for school that I couldn’t go to because I was skipping class to go to work to pay for school I couldn’t go to,” he said of his LSU years.

Liuzza worked as a hotel bellboy, a waiter and a cook at the musically inclined M’s Fine and Mellow Café. And from freshmen year to graduation, he and his LSU roommate made weekly blood donations.

“We needed the money,” he said. 

Working at M’s had fringe benefits. While Liuzza made pizza and pasta in the kitchen, he listened to the jazz acts owner Marian Pickett booked every week. During breaks from the kitchen, he’d sing with Russ Bryant and After8 on stage and, after closing time, have M’s grand piano all to himself.

On a dare from a friend’s fiancée, Liuzza auditioned in 2004 at the Superdome for season four of American Idol. The audition process took him all the way to California.
“I was in the Hollywood finals, this fat boy from New Orleans,” he recalled. “I saw beautiful women with great voices that would knock you down get cut way before I did. I was laughing the whole time.”

“Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?” was the final song Liuzza sang for American Idol judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson.

“Simon said, ‘I have no idea what to say. You’re going home.’ I brought them a sound that, we know, it’s not what present-day Americans want to buy. It’s traced in roots that a lot of people haven’t been exposed to. So my desire isn’t for fame and money, it’s to get that sound out there. I can’t make you love it, but I’d love to make you listen to it.”

Missing his LSU classes because he was busy with American Idol endangered Liuzza’s graduation. After getting cut from Idol in Hollywood, “I’m on the phone (to LSU) crying,” he recalled.
But Liuzza was allowed to take his exams. He graduated that December. The American Idol experience paid off, too, when Liuzza, his parents and grandmother figured in three season four episodes.

Following American Idol and graduation, Liuzza put his college education to work by getting a well-paying, full-time job. Casting fears aside, he also dived into music. Booked by Scott Gaskin’s Green Frog Productions, he performed in local venues such as Roux House, Happy’s Irish Pub and Walk On’s in bands called the Happy Endings, Miraj and, finally, the Michael Liuzza Group.

“Michael is one of our favorite artists to work with,” Gaskin said. “He’s focused completely on music now and it shows in his direction and driving force.”

“For me to get my gigs in Baton Rouge,” Liuzza said, “I had to get booked as a cover band, but then I mischievously changed it up and played original music. And we didn’t get fired! We played covers, too. I threw in powerful pieces that I loved, like ‘House of the Rising Sun.’ And I’m a Tom Petty and Dr. John fan.”

Liuzza now hopes to kick his music career forward via his European trip. 

“We were moving at a steady slow place, like a train moving up a mountain,” he said. “At the end of the day I could see progress from the day before. So I decided I’m gonna put my endeavor into high gear.”

Liuzza’s appearances prior to leaving for Ireland include performances tonight at Champps, the Indie Lounge at Roux House, Thursday, July 30, and Sangria Bar and Grill on July 31.