John DeNicola

John DeNicola enjoyed a long and lucrative career as a songwriter before the world got to know him as a vocalist and recording artist. DeNicola wrote two iconic hits for the soundtrack of the 1987 movie Dirty Dancing, “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” and “Hungry Eyes,” which have been covered by dozens of artists and remained popular decades after the release of the film. It wasn’t until 2019 that DeNicola stepped forward with his first solo album, The Why Because, a set of adult contemporary pop songs drawn from the highlights in his songwriting catalog, emphasizing his classic pop melodic sense and eloquent, well-seasoned voice.
John DeNicola was born on October 4, 1955 and spent his early years in Amityville, New York. Music was a part of life in the DeNicola household; John’s mother played piano, his father had an extensive record collection, and his siblings all took up instruments. When the family moved to Centerpoint, New York, John made friends who shared his interest in music and his tastes encompassed pop, rock, soul, and psychedelia. By the time he was in junior high, he had learned both guitar and bass and had started playing with a local rock band. In time, he landed a gig playing bass with a jazz fusion group called Flight, appearing on their third album, 1980′s Excursion Beyond, for Motown Records. A track from the album, “Face to Face,” would be used as a sample in Eryka Badu’s 2003 hit “Back in the Day.” DeNicola was also a sideman for Paul Young and Corey Hart before he started focusing on songwriting. DeNicola and his writing partner Franke Previte submitted demos of two songs they had penned together, “Hungry Eyes” and “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” for a movie set at a resort in the Catskills in the early ’60s. Out of 150 songs submitted for use in Dirty Dancing, DeNicola and Previte’s two numbers were chosen for the soundtrack, and when it became a massive box office success, the soundtrack album was a multi-platinum hit and both songs enjoyed major chart success (“Time of My Life” went all the way to number one on the singles chart, while “Hungry Eyes” peaked at number four). DeNicola and Previte also won Academy Awards and Golden Globe awards for “Time of My Life.”
After the success of Dirty Dancing, DeNicola continued to work in songwriting, penning songs with John Waite, Eddie Money, and legendary keyboardist Bernie Worrell. In 1995, he founded an independent record label, OMAD Records, and released recordings by the Sighs, Peter Lewis (ex-Moby Grape), Rust Dust, and Acoustic Junction. He also produced early sessions with the band Kara's Flowers, whose members would go on to greater success as Maroon 5. DeNicola’s career as a solo artist was born when he built a recording studio in a barn on his property in upstate New York and started recording a few songs to test out the equipment. He had enough fun that he continued cutting fresh interpretations of songs from his catalog (including his Dirty Dancing hits), as well as inviting in friends to help in the studio, including John Waite, Peter Lewis, Mickey Madden of Maroon 5, Glen Burtnick of Styx, and many more. The finished product, The Why Because, was released in October 2019. ~ Mark Deming