Bio
Jon Randel is a singer, songwriter, lyricist, composer, arranger, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. He has shared the stage as an opening act for such artists as The James Cotton Blues Band, McKendree Spring, Annie Golden and The Shirts, and The Ramones. Recordings of his music were produced by renowned studio musician/jazz guitarist David Spinozza and Andy Chernak, who was musical director for Garland Jeffreys. Jon's contributions to recordings by other artists include the album Jazz Baby Hits Her Stride by Amy Barlow Liberatore.
Born in the former factory town of Troy NY, Jon first sang for an audience when his mother, jazz singer Diane Corby, stood him on a chair on stage at the age of four so he could reach the mic. He started playing guitar and blues harp at 13 and added keyboards soon after. His father, Pete Bertasso, was an well-known organist in New York's Capital District and his stepfather, Charlie Randel, was a bandleader in New York and at one time headlined a weekly radio show there. A resident of Vermont since 2010, Jon lived in New York City for many years, where he sang and played in the bands Pookie, Low Media High, Spot The Cat, Psycle, Monolith, and YBU.
Primarily a rock musician, Jon has also sung, played, and written folk, progressive rock, power pop, country, blues, jazz, theater, and choral music. One of his choral compositions premiered in Rome, Italy in 2001. He studied voice in New York with opera singer Katherine Lakoski and the late Broadway vocalist Terri Di Leva.
Filters Force the Light, Jon’s album of rock, folk-rock, acoustic music, and rock-electronica, was released in October of 2023. In 2022, Jon arranged and produced a duet of The First Noel that featured a restored recording of his late biological father Pete Bertasso playing organ, to which Jon added vocals and other instruments.