My name is Vince Chiarelli, and I’m an Italian American musician and the grandson of Italian immigrants. My grandfather, Vince Chiarelli, immigrated to Rockford, IL from Aragona, Sicily in 1955. He was a tailor, but was also an accomplished musician. He started a music publishing company, record label, and released multiple records himself. I’ve been continuing his legacy by performing his music and traditional Italian American standards he taught me around the country.

I was teaching my 4-year old son this year some Italian American music and sharing stories with him, when I realized how important it is that we continue to pass down these immigrant stories and share how much of an impact these Italian Americans had on music and the entire entertainment industry. This is when I noticed that while there are many great websites and blogs dedicated to Italian Americans and our culture, I couldn’t find one dedicated to just the cultural impact Italian American’s had on music and entertainment in America.

Through the years, I’ve come to learn of other Italian immigrants like my grandfather who were musicians and made great contributions to Italian American culture, even though they didn’t make it “big.” So I decided to make this page and a website so that we can not only share stories about famous Italian American’s in the entertainment industry, but also feature Italian’s like my grandfather who may not have become a celebrity, but made great contributions and helped influence others.

Our goal is to share information with others about Italian American’s in the entertainment industry from the past to the present, who they may or may never have heard of. We will also feature current Italian American artists and performers who are continuing to share our Italian culture and using that culture to make their own contributions to the entertainment industry.

We hope that by chronicling these contributions and stories of our ancestors, other Italian American’s will learn about an important part of our heritage and continue to pass down these stories. Please contact us if you would like to be a contributor or share stories.