Gino Vannelli
Gino Vannelli (born June 16, 1952) is a Canadian singer and songwriter known for his popular songs in the 1970s and 1980s, such as People Gotta Move, I Just Wanna Stop, Living Inside Myself, and Wild Horses. He grew up in Montreal in an Italian family. His father, Russ Vannelli, sang in local dance bands. Gino initially wanted to be a drummer and looked up to Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich, playing drums in a high school band.
In 1969, at age 17, he signed with RCA Records under the name Vann Elli and studied music at McGill University. Buddy Rich later covered Gino’s songs on his album Speak No Evil. Gino and his brother Joe moved to Los Angeles in 1972. After a long wait outside A&M Studios, Herb Alpert signed him, and his debut album Crazy Life appeared in 1973. He became one of the first white artists on the TV show Soul Train and toured with Stevie Wonder in 1974.
His 1974 album Powerful People gave his first big hit, People Gotta Move. The following years brought more albums and hits. The Gist of the Gemini came out in 1976, and Brother to Brother (1978) featured I Just Wanna Stop, which reached high on the charts and earned a Grammy nomination. Nightwalker (1980) included Living Inside Myself, another top-ten hit. He won Juno Awards in Canada: Most Promising Male Vocalist (1975) and Best Male Vocalist (1976, 1979). He also won Best Production with Joe Vannelli for Brother to Brother in 1979.
In the mid-1980s, hits like Black Cars and Hurts to Be in Love kept him in the spotlight, and Wild Horses came from Big Dreamers Never Sleep (1987). He later released two mostly acoustic jazz albums, Yonder Tree (1995) and Slow Love (1997). He worked on a contemporary classical project, Parole Per Mio Padre, and a bilingual album, Canto, released in 2003. Live in L.A., recorded with his brothers, came out in 2014.
Gino Vannelli lives in Troutdale, Oregon, where he teaches music and continues to perform across North America and Europe.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 09:26 (CET).