Tom Augello
Saxaphone & Lead Vocals
Tom got a shiny gold plastic toy
saxophone when he was five years old
and a real one when it was time to rent
a band instrument in 8th grade.
He majored on saxophone when he entered college at
Bowling Green State University, and has continued
playing in cover bands and original acts since 1984. Tom
credits his mother, Donna Augello, with sharing her
musical talent and finding a way to rent his first horn when
she had nine kids to raise by herself and no money. He
takes back that credit because she forced him to continue
piano lessons with Sister Rose Ann who always yelled at
him for not practicing. He's had so much fun sharing lead
vocals and playing sax for Connected that he forgot he's
been playing piano for 35 years. Tom also sings in the
choir at First Parish Unitarian Universalist church in
Kingston, MA
Musical high points (besides joining Connected): touring
with a 125-member men's chorus in college, playing songs
written by his childhood musical heroes (the horn band
Chicago) with a horn section in a pick-up band.
Musical Low points? Playing at a nursing home for free,
losing electricity for the electronic accompaniment, and
being heckled by the residents. Or was it playing David
Bowie and Talking Heads songs at a country bar near
Toledo, OH, where the audience yelled "that's too hard"
between songs and abruptly left en masse to go to a pig
roast. Or maybe it was being in a Cape Cod band that
was fired while it was still playing, because the club owner
thought the crowd was too small. Or it could be when...
