I was born in 1962 at the Somerville hospital in Somerville , Massachusetts. I lived in Cambridge, Ma. for the first year of my life with my parents Franco and Filomena DiFusco, who were both born in Gaeta, Italy. We then moved to Somerville, Mass. and I lived their my entire childhood.

  My father came to the United States several years before to try to better his life and the lives of his future family. He later went back to marry my mother who he had known most of his life, then brought her back here to the States and started a family of whom which I am the first born. My father worked as a meat worker most of his time here in the U.S. and my mother had various factory jobs so that we could have clothes on our backs and food on the table. They also had two other children, my brothers Franco and Daniel.

  My father played guitar and mandolin and was taught by my mother's father back in the old country. Both my Father and Grandfather did not have much formal training in music at all, but they both possessed a great love for music and quite good ears. They especially loved the traditional Italian classics, which included some incredibly melodic and challenging lines. With the beautiful Mazurkas, Tarantellas and heart wrenching ballads, along with the comedic crooners, this music filled my home as I grew up. My Father played through his run in the Italian Navy and also when he moved to the US. He worked in a professional working group for a bit but his career turned into a fun hobby as he pursued providing for his home and family.

  When I turned 5 years old my father signed me up for music lessons in the local music school called the Tufts Guitar Studio. I'll never forget Vinny Leto and Bobby King who were my teachers there, I thought they were the greatest and they helped me a great deal! Well, I took a liking to it right away and displayed some talent. Of course, my father was really on me to practice and always made me play along with him. At the time, I would rather watch my kiddy TV shows but my old man really didn't let me do much of that. I quickly began learning a lot of the Italian songs on both guitar and mandolin with those intricate melodies and of course the harmonies as I accompanied him.

  Another thing my father did was encouraged me to perform for friends and family when they came to visit the house. He would inevitably call me, especially after a few glasses of good wine, to get my guitar and mandolin and play for the nice people. I had to work through the shyness, but I believe this helped me develop a great love for performing.