Aldo
Nova is a hugely talented guy. Although we didn't accomplish a great
deal
during
our short amount of time together, Aldo and Jon Bon Jovi
managed
to complete the
song that Aldo and I started, and it eventually appeared on Aldo's
1991
album "Blood
On The Bricks".
In
recent years Aldo has had enormous success writing for a variety
of artists, including the song
"A New Day Has Come" for Celine
Dion.
Aldo Nova biography (Tom Demalon, All Music Guide): Canadian
guitarist Aldo Nova was a relatively late bloomer musically, not learning
how to play the instrument until he was 15. However, inspired by the playing
of Jimi Hendrix and with a keen interest in jazz, Nova worked obsessively
to master the instrument (along with keyboards) and became a hometown hero
in the local clubs.
While playing George Harrison in a production of Beatlemania,
he worked after hours as a studio engineer and a 1982 publishing deal led
to his signing with Portrait Records. Given the luxury of producing himself,
Nova's debut that summer contained songs that he had recorded over the
previous several years. The self-titled release was a surprise success,
selling over a million copies in the U.S. and reaching the Top Ten, driven
by the blistering "Fantasy," which not only found favor at AOR
stations, but, bolstered by MTV's support of the video, also peaked on
the pop charts at number 25.
When Nova issued the follow-up, Subject...Aldo
Nova, a year later, there was increased emphasis on synthesizers and it
featured more ballads, although the lone track to make inroads at radio
was the anti-drug anthem "Monkey on Your Back," which was as
heavy as anything on his debut. Despite that song receiving significant
airplay on rock stations, the set's single, "Always Be Mine," was
a commercial failure and Subject struggled to achieve gold status.
Nova
found himself in demand as a player and writer, though, during this period,
working with artists such as Blue Oyster Cult, Michael Bolton, and Lita
Ford. Pressured by his label to use outside writers and musicians (he had
handled almost every aspect of his previous efforts), Twitch was virtually
ignored upon its 1985 release, failing to chart and receiving little attention
from radio. It would be six years before Nova returned with Blood on the
Bricks, a record released on Jon Bon Jovi's Jambco imprint (Nova had appeared
on his multi-platinum Young Guns II soundtrack).
However, in the face of
a changing musical landscape (grunge had made Nova's style of metal-pop
less relevant), it too vanished quickly. Epic culled together the best
of his first three releases, releasing a fine career overview with A Portrait
of Aldo Nova in 1992 and Nova returned with Nova's Dream five years later.
