"I'm good," began Jersey Shore area artist Danny Giovanna, "I was born and raised in Monmouth County, a wonderful place to grow up and so close to the shore, which is where so much of my story when I was younger started. I found myself going to Asbury Park, it was a way for me to get away from everything going on at home."
There are those who create and mold their life's story on their own terms and then there are those who seemingly never had the ability to do so or control over events which cause directional shifts, Danny Giovanna or Danny Gio as she's known in music circles experienced more life altering events before she lived three decades than most do over a lifetime.
Going from happily pursuing music, to having her world shattered, to losing her faith, surviving a "Freak accident" and finding the strength to resurrect her music and herself was at times more than she could handle but yet she did so and with the release of two singles over the past year, "Hurricane In A Shot Glass" and "Hitchhike," she is well on her way to forging her own path in music and life.
"I grew up in a great home and then sickness struck," she explained. "I was 17 and my mom was diagnosed with cancer and our whole world was turned upside down. So, going down to Asbury Park, Belmar, Long Branch to the music venues and hanging out with people that were part of the music scene was my getaway. That is where I went to clear my head and for inspiration and to just forget what was going on and I was so lucky to grow up in an area where there was a lot of that. I was in and out of bands when I was in high school and I met a lot of really great, talented guys and girls and it was a really special time; not just in my life but everybody else who was involved in that scene we had going on 10 plus years ago. I was singing with guitars, guys, bands and anyone who was willing to get up on stage with me for all those years; even after high school. Then at 22, my mom did pass away and my world wasn't turned upside down, it was thrown out of orbit. That woman was my number one fan, growing up she was the one taking me to vocal lessons, she was at all of my shows, she only ever missed a show because she was getting treatment and then she'd come a week later and she'd be cheering me on so that constant was gone. That was so hard and I completely fell off the track myself and my own music, my own journey; I lost all of that. Although music was still there for me, I lost the path that I was on putting my music into the world. That lasted from age 22 to, gosh the last couple of years and it was only when I was about 27 or 28 years old that I started to come out of this really lost time and heal. Then, at 29, in a freak accident, I was opening a window and it fell on my head. I was laying in bed with a concussion and injuries to my neck and back that were going to last me for a lifetime, I realized I'd never kept the promises that I made to myself when I was 15 years old to write, record and release and to give back to music. I was like, if this wasn't a wakeup call, I don't know what is and that's pretty much why I'm here today doing what I'm doing. A lot has happened in the last 10 years but I am very grateful for everything that happened because I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you if it hadn't."
Danny seemed to have hit the Asbury Park/Jersey Shore scene at the right time as she fell in with some of the shore area's hottest commodities and began to take away lessons with every encounter.
"One of the bigger names that people remember and know that I performed with was Jody Joseph and The Jody Joseph Band. She was my vocal coach and I did a lot of work with her and going out with her band in my really early days when I was learning how to perform myself. Then from there, some of my bands didn't leave the basement or the garage; do you remember the band Bobby Mahoney and the Seventh Son? Someone in that band was in a band called Sick Minds and I was really good friends with them, they were great and the guy's name was Andrew. Shout out to Andrew who is a really great guy and it was that crowd and that scene that we had going on and I was in some videos and did some gang vocals in the studio with them and that's some of the names that people may recognize and remember. I was lucky enough to be part of that for some time, I was so young and didn't really know what I was doing but I was having fun, I was learning and through that, I really met a lot of talented, talented musicians. Some of them I keep in touch with now and it's nice to see that everyone is still doing it and putting their music out there. So, Asbury (Park), I really owe a lot to that area for being the beginning of all of this for me."
Looking back, she had the power to produce music within her and as a young child began writing lyrics and more at a very young age.
"I started writing very, very young, like at eight or nine years old when I started to write. I loved poetry and I loved music and I just loved the way things sounded. I remember a little notebook my grandmother bought me that I started writing in and I would share the things I wrote with my mom and she was like, "Wow, where did you learn to do that?" I was like, "I don't know, I listen to songs and I write too" and as I grew older and was in school, I was in creative writing classes and contests. So, writing was always a very natural way for me to get my words out. Sometimes it's hard for me to talk about my feelings; I like to put on a very tough exterior and it's hard for me to be vulnerable but I have a lot to be vulnerable about so I put it into words. So, I wrote the whole time, I was always writing; all through the teenage years, all through performing with bands and even with my mom's passing I still wrote, I just wasn't turning it into things that I was releasing or putting out to the world. I was writing and I was angry and to bring back what we were saying about God and the universe, that was always so important to me and I lost it. I lost my faith and that was so terrible for me because I went from being someone who really had such a strong sense of that to being so angry and sad and that was such a terrible loss along with losing my mom. So, at that time, I was writing but it was so much anger and sadness, maybe it wasn't even making sense. Then, as I was starting to come out of that and I found my faith again and my belief system, things started to make sense as they were coming out again and I've been able to turn some of those really hard things that I wrote down into something that hopefully people can connect to and read and hear and think, "Wow, she felt that too? That's something I've gone through." So, the writing never disappeared, just me wanting to put it out there and connect with other people, that's what really got lost along the way."
By her own admission, she can come off a bit "Standoffish" or with a gruff exterior which at one time was somewhat of a coping method but she readily states now that although it may seem that way, it is so not the norm.
"I get that all the time," she said with a large laugh, "People are like, "You're like a Sour Patch Kid. On the outside you give off this (Hard personality) and then we get to know you and you're so sweet and you kind of just melt." I think for me, growing up, especially in your high school years which really aren't easy for anybody, it was easier for me to be angry than sad and show that, especially with my mom and my father also had a lot of health issues at the time too; at one point, I had one parent in the hospital in Philly and one in the hospital in New York extremely sick. I was 17 years old, trying to get through senior year and I had a little brother who was also in high school that I was trying to take care of and make life normal for him when nothing was normal around us. So, for me to have this exterior of "Don't mess with me, I'm not in the mood" because I was going through so much that, that was just what I gave off and what I wanted to give off. I wasn't on the same level as the people around me. They were having fun and everybody was friends and I wasn't. I had so much other stuff going on that it was a defense mechanism for me and to this day, I've definitely gotten softer as I've gotten older but even to this day, I know that sometimes I'll put on this front of maybe not being approachable; I'm never mean or disrespectful but maybe I seem standoffish to protect myself but as I've gotten older I've realized that not everybody is out to hurt you and the world isn't out to hurt you the way it felt when I was younger and it did feel that way for me. I know now that that's not the case and although I may sometimes still have that look going on, I really am a very open and welcoming person and I thrive for a connection with people which is why I'm in music and why I write and release because I thrive on that connection with people; it just makes me feel so alive and seen and heard."
An advantage of rediscovering yourself and/or talents is that one may never know where they may find their next adventure and in Danny's case, she's found the best of two worlds.
"Hurricane" and "Hitchhike" were actually recorded at a studio in Brewster, New York. I recorded with a really talented producer, it's a little ways from Jersey but he was somebody that I found myself very comfortable with and it was the first time that I was walking into a studio and doing it completely on my own and not with a band, not with people that I knew. So, it was a really important step for me, it was me doing this on my own, figuring it out for myself, making my decisions, making my choices and it's coming up on a year ago when "Hurricane" was recorded and it's my baby, it's the very first one and will always hold a special place in my heart and it was the beginning of really what has been such an incredible year, 2025 and it's really just the beginning because I have a lot more that I'm ready to do and that I'm going after."
"I'm known for just kind of letting the wind blow me sometimes and seeing where I land and that's the free spirit in me," she went on. "There's a pretty cool music scene up in the Brewster area and there are a lot of really great musicians and I feel very lucky to be in two places that I can say the same thing about."
Having to develop alligator skin at a young age can serve one well as they age and as she continues to take charge of her music and career she has a very nice goal in sight.
"I'm doing this all on my own and I'm learning the ways and wearing a lot of different hats at once and it has been fun, it can be a little stressful but I have a good feeling because my intentions are good out here and my intentions are truly to have a community of people who are very like minded. I just want to enjoy life and enjoy good music and find those who have gone through a couple of things but came out on the other side and that's really what I'm out here looking for."
Oh yeah; what's with the spelling of her first name?
"A lot of people get confused with the way I spell Danny but that's the way I've spelled it since I was a little girl and I figured, why change it now? So, it gets a Y at the end."
To hear this interview in its entirety, please listen here: https://www.mixcloud.com/thepenguin/rock-on-podcast-w-danny-gio/
To discover more about Danny Giovanna, please visit her on social media and YouTube @Dannygiomusic
That's it for this week! Please continue to support live and original music and until next week....ROCK ON!
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