ABOUT CORY LAVINE
Pianist and composer Cory Lavine started classical piano at the age of 9 and took 6 years of lessons. After high school, Cory toured with a rock band called Free Fare that took him clear across the country. The band performed in junior and senior high schools, presenting anti-drug and anti-alcohol abuse assembly programs, averaging ten shows a week for ten months straight.
After touring for a little more than a year, Cory thought it was time to head back home to NY. He would later receive his Bachelor’s Degree in music and sociology from St. Lawrence University. Even though he left the band behind, music remained constant in his heart and soul.
In the spring of 1998, after a year of youth ministry in North Carolina, Cory heard music calling his name again. He went back to school in Tempe, AZ to study recording and sound engineering. That summer, he moved to Nashville and did an internship at one of Nashville’s finest hotels, where he worked until 2005 setting up sound equipment for trade shows and conventions.
A change in company contracts eliminated his job, but he stayed in Nashville and continued working at the hotel as a bellman. Because of the exceptional care he took of its guests, Cory was awarded the Chairman’s Award for “Passion,” representing one of the seven values of the hotel. He and six other employees were selected from over 10,000 within the company to represent those seven values.
The award seemed to show that Cory had found his calling, but an encounter with a guest of the hotel in 2009 changed that. While escorting the guest to her room, she and Cory shared stories about what brought them to the hotel. She asked Cory if he was doing anything more with his music, and he replies, “No, not at the moment.” She told him, “Just don’t forget why you came here.” He never saw or spoke to that guest again.
The beginning of Cory’s debut album was also serendipitous. After returning from a walk one day, he sat down at his keyboard, hit “Record,” and the title track came from out of nowhere. This and the encounter with the mysterious guest became the catalyst for naming his album Out of the Blue.
Since its release in September 2015, Cory Lavine had won Best New Artist from Enlightened Piano Radio at their 2016 awards concert abroad the Carnival Triumph cruise ship. The album was also reviewed and featured on One World Music Radio based in the UK. In his album review, the late music producer and artist Michael Diamond had this to say about Cory’s release; “There is a good deal of heart and soul in his playing that reflects aspects of the experiences that have shaped him. It is inspiring to see how his life and music have come to this point.”
He then asked Cory if there was anything else he wanted people to know. His reply was, “Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t be whatever it is you want to be in life. Dreams do come true.”