Roc Monaco

The shows are really about the songs and you! Depending on the event and the venue it is my goal to make the show interactive when appropriate. Some shows focus on the classic crooner standards. I do shows that include many of the Italian songs folks love and or some of the Latin classics. When performing in restaurants or lounges the material may be geared more towards mellow jazz tunes. I try to include fun and comedy in my shows, as is fitting. I'm always respectful yet playful. I have excellent sound equipment for shows where it is not provided. I do 40-45 minutes sets at a minimum. Quite frankly, I love singing these songs so it never feels like work.

Rocco (Roc) Monaco grew up in an Italian neighborhood on the west side of Chicago listening to the great Italian crooners like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Jerry Vale, Tony Bennett, Perry Como, Al Martino and Louis Prima. Raised in an Italian family by a single father and grandmother, he spent a lot of time with his father, who owned stacks of eight-track tapes from all of these artists.

Rocco showed an interest in music at a very young age singing along with recordings of Three Dog Night, Elvis, Michael Jackson and Donny Osmond. He began learning music first by playing drums, guitar and saxophone. By the age of twelve, he was deeply immersed in rock and roll. He formed the first of many garage bands with his childhood friend where he learned to play bass guitar and sang. It didn’t take long before the bands were playing every weekend at parties, school dances, concerts, festivals and nightclubs. Even opening for the Spinners where Roc and a couple of the other members of the band had to get patrons of the club to pretend to be their fathers because of their young age. He attended high school at the prestigious Lane Technical High School in Chicago where music was offered as a “major” and students spent up to six hours of their school day studying, playing and practicing music. While in high school Roc also developed an interest in acting, starring in the school production of Bye Bye Birdie in the title roll of Conrad Birdie. Moving on to college as a music major studying saxophone and voice while minoring in drama, he played in what was considered one of, if not the best college jazz band in the country. Winning the Notre Dame Jazz Festival and being selected as US Goodwill Ambassadors touring Eastern Europe.

The acting bug bit harder when he got his first “professional” acting job playing a soldier in the Bolshoi Ballet's production of Romeo and Juliet at the Arie Crown Theatre. He decided to attend The Goodman School of Drama and eventually headed to Los Angeles where he spent more than a decade studying and working as an actor in dozens of plays, television shows and movies. He could be seen regularly on soap operas like The Bold & The Beautiful and The Young & The Restless.

After spending many years working in business and raising a family Roc has returned to his passion for music and the dream of singing the songs he loves so much. This is truly a labor of love for him and he frequently states that he can’t think of anything he’d rather be doing. New to the Tampa area he is now performing for private events, in nightclubs and in restaurants around the city.

Sharing his love of this music while making people smile and sing is a dream come true for him.

I have excellent sound equipment for small to medium sized venues. I do not provide any lighting or stage.