Jazz Organist and Recording Artist
New Jersey native William (Bill) L. Callanan Jr. was born in Newark and raised in Nutley. His prodigious talent for music was evident at the age of five, when Bill started playing the family piano. He and his younger brother James became the family entertainers, performing ducts at local parishes, fraternal organizations, and the famed Waldorf Astoria in New York City.
By the time Bill attended Nutley High School, he was an accomplished keyboardist who started playing gigs around North Jersey and was voted the “top talent” of his class in 1959. His rhythm and blues band included a future Oscar-winning actor named Joseph Pesci, who played guitar, a future professional football player named Donald Chuy, who played the accordion, and future Nutley Police Chief Robert DeLitta, who played the saxophone. In 1960, Bill’s father, William L. Callanan Sr., purchased a Hammond B3 Organ for him from the Griffith Piano Company in downtown Newark. Bill became fascinated with the B3 after seeing the Bill Doggett band perform in Newark, which dramatically shaped his playing style. It was during this period that he began to expand on his musical collaborations and could be seen rehearsing with emerging icons, including Cissy Houston, Dionne Warwick, and Frankie Valli.
Bill was asked to join a rock and roll group in 1962 known as Joey Dee & the Starliters, while attending Manhattan School of Music. The group performed regularly at a nightclub on 45th Street in New York City called the Peppermint Lounge and eventually became the house band. They recorded the chart-topping hit “Peppermint Twist” and were one of the most popular bands of that time. Around the same period, Bill recorded on an instrumental R&B crossover single for King Curtis called “Soul Twist.” Some interesting facts about Joey Dee & the Starliters while Bill was performing with the group: when they appeared at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany, their opening act was the Beatles; the group was also one of the first racially integrated bands to perform and travel together; and they were one of the few bands to appear live on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand. The group was featured on the “Murray the K” show and on the stage of the legendary Apollo Theater. The Starliters included renowned artists David Brigati and Eddie Brigati of the Young Rascals, as well as Jimmy Hendrix.
In 1967, while touring the “Chitlin’ Circuit” with his own B3-organ-jazz trio, Bill was offered an opportunity to play at the Desert Inn Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. He took that offer and has been performing in Vegas ever since. For over five decades, Bill played in the orchestra pits of Las Vegas, backing up famous headliners such as Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, Robert Goulet, Ann Margaret, and Englebert Humperdinck. Bill was also the conductor of the 18-piece orchestra for the Lido De Paris show at the Stardust Hotel. He retired in 2011 from the nightly performances and formed a jazz quartet of Las Vegas all-stars—all former “Jersey Boys”—called the “B3 Conspiracy.” The group performed in Japan, Singapore, and Las Vegas. They also released a CD entitled “Sleeping Lions.”
Bill is a 1974 graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, with a degree in Music Education. He resides in Las Vegas with his wife of nearly 61 years, Janet, who is from Bloomfield, New Jersey. He is the proud father of two daughters, Dr. Patty Coaley, PhD, and Mary Pike, RDH, four grandchildren, and one great-grandson.