Prince pushed Elisa Fiorillo to pursue jazz, and she’s happy he did

When Elisa Fiorillo met Prince, she had already worked hard to carve out an admirable career on her own.

While many folks have become familiar with the Las Vegas singer most recently thanks to her association with Prince — she was a member of New Power Generation, one of his backing bands and collaborated with him on material of her own — Fiorillo had actually made significant strides as a performer and recording artist before the dearly departed musical icon (who reportedly died of an opioid overdose) came into her life. By the time the two met, she had several acting roles under her belt, won a national talent competition and garnered a record deal.

In her early teens, Fiorillo earned roles in several New York musicals before landing a spot on “Jr. Star Search,” a precursor to “American Idol,” in the mid ’80s, besting 70,000 other hopefuls. She later took home the title, and that stint led to a record deal a few years later with Chrysalis Records.

Propelled by the success of the first single she appeared on, “Who Found Who” by John “Jellybean” Benitez, Fiorillo headed to Paisley Park to record a solo album with producer David Z (aka David Rivkin). She was 21.

That’s when she and Prince became acquainted and her career took a significant turn with him collaborating with her in the studio, enlisting Fiorillo to sing on some of his material at first and then producing part of her second album.

Before all that, though, Fiorillo remembers picking up her first paying gig at the age of 11. Her dad played golf with a guy who owned a club in her hometown of Philadelphia, and he hired her to sing “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” on St. Paddy’s Day. “I got a $50 check,” says Fiorillo, “and I still have a copy of it.”

Bolstered by that exhilarating experience of being on stage, the young singer began pursuing more opportunities. Shortly thereafter, she auditioned for a locally televised variety program hosted by Al Alberts, the lead singer of a quartet called the Four Aces, and she landed a spot in the show. “I got my first gig,” she says, chuckling at the memory, “and I got the bug.”

Fiorillo’s burgeoning love of music, she says, was passed on to her by her father, a classical pianist who studied with Vladimir Horowitz. Fiorillo’s dad, Alexander, became a musician around the same age that Elisa did, and from the sound of it, he was pretty precocious himself, performing with the Philadelphia orchestra at the age of 12. His musicianship was impressive enough to attract the attention of Horowitz, who took him on as one of only five students. “He started young, too,” Elisa says, noting one of many parallels throughout her life as a musician. “His protege was Vladimir. Mine was Prince.”

Despite pursuing a life in music — or perhaps because of his experience embarking on such an endeavor — Alexander wasn’t necessarily a big fan of Elisa following his path. “What’s funny is, my mom was more supportive,” she reveals. “My dad was more like …he understood the music business, and he didn’t want me to get into it, because he didn’t want me to have to go through what he went through.”

Alexander, who went on to teach music at Temple University for more than four decades, was apparently soured by his experience with Horowitz, a musician with mercurial tendencies. “He’d go back and forth to New York to study with him,” Elisa explains. “And sometimes he’d drive all the way there, with no air conditioning in the car, and he’d get there, and Vladimir would say, ‘I don’t teach today. It’s too hot. You go home. Come back next week.’ There’s a book on it, and my dad’s in it, quoting this exact story.”

After gaining some exposure locally, Fiorillo, just like her father, began commuting back and forth with her mother to New York, where she would audition for various commercials and musicals. In her early teens, she landed roles in a few summer stock productions, including “The Sound of Music.”

“I learned perseverance and hard work, not taking anything for granted,” Fiorillo says of her takeaways from her theater experience. “Knowing that it’s not easy — rehearsals after rehearsals after rehearsals, perfecting your craft. I learned that I had to perfect my craft, and I also learned how to take rejection pretty well at a young age, which is very hard to do. But I always was convinced that if it wasn’t meant to be, something else will come along, and it will be.”

One of her favorite shows of all time, that particular musical is one that Fiorillo had previously auditioned for when she was in school and got passed over, every single part, she remembers. “I came home crying and I said, ‘Mom, I don’t want to do this anymore. I don’t want to sing. It hurts.’ She said, ‘Don’t worry about it. When the time is right, it will be the right thing for you.’ ”

Indeed. Earning a role after the fact solidified the notion that perseverance pays off, a sentiment that has served the singer quite well over the years. It got her through the lean times after her time working with Prince, when her solo career slowed down and a subsequent record deal with A&M Records fell through. She kept pressing forward and never stopped singing, even after moving back for a while to Philadelphia, where she worked odd jobs, including a stint performing with a wedding band. Eventually, the singer headed to California, where she landed spots singing backing vocals for acts like Billie Myers and Savage Garden.

While on the road with that last act, Fiorillo met her husband, and the two later moved to Las Vegas, to be close to Fiorillo’s mom and to start a family. She performed around the valley for a few years until Prince unexpectedly came back into her life. After seeing a clip of her singing on YouTube, the pop star got back in touch and started a dialogue that resulted in him asking her to perform a few dates with him and then later inviting her to join his band, the New Power Generation, as a backing vocalist.

Over the course of her career, Fiorillo has experienced highs and lows. Her time with Prince obviously fits into the former category. Although she has countless Prince stories, as you’d expect from someone who worked closely with him in the studio and on the road, the biggest gift he probably gave her — aside from praising and then purchasing a pair of songs she penned — was encouraging her to plunge into her true passion of performing jazz standards.

“One day, we were kind of sitting around rehearsing, and he was kind of making fun of me a bit, saying, ‘Uh, Miss ‘Sound of Music’ over there.’ I guess musical theater wasn’t his happy place. And I said, ‘Well, no, I really want to sing jazz, and he goes, ‘Yeah, you should be. You should be fronting a big band.’ And I was like, ‘Hmm …’ and a little light bulb went up in my head.”

Prior to being a member of NPG, Fiorillo had developed a fondness for the style when she lived in California, and that’s where she’s really progressed as a vocalist. “By listening to these soloists play, I really learned a lot, as a singer,” she says. “Jazz taught me so much. That’s why I love big band. There’s so much to learn, and it’s so challenging, like no other form of music, really, to me. I think I’ve learned the most with that.”

For the past couple of years, Fiorillo has been able to put her prowess and passion to work with the Bruce Harper Big Band, players that she met through a mutual musician friend, and that’s where she says she feels most at home. “I have sung country, R&B, pop, funk, jazz, opera,” notes Fiorillo. “I’ve done every type of singing in this world, and that is the only place where my heart just goes, ‘Ahh! I’m home.’

“It’s so musical, and there’s so much going on. It just embraces you when you’re up front and you hear all of that behind you. Your little pocket where you sing fits just right, like a little puzzle piece. There’s nothing like it, and every time I do it, I sit there going, ‘Prince is right. Prince is right.’ ”

Read more from Dave Herrera at reviewjournal.com. Contact him at dherrera@reviewjournal.com and follow @rjmusicdh on Twitter.