Biography

With a working knowledge of around 3,000 songs and the ability to play guitar, bass, banjo, flute as well as sing, Courtney Colletti is one of the most special and versatile talents in our area.  

Like most musicians, he started out in grade school with music lessons.  At nineteen, he began playing music in bars and VFW halls with a polka band, while at the same time playing in society orchestras led by Lester Lanin, Ray Bloch and Peter Duchin.  By the time he got to college, he’d had two groups that had recorded in New York.

At 23, he and his own original band recorded an album for United Artists. At twenty five, he became a member of one of Philadelphia’s favorite acts, Johnny’s Dance Band, recording three albums on RCA/Windsong.

Since then, he has been the band leader on a cruise ship, played a Presidential Inaugural Ball,  both of Governor Casey’s Inaugural Balls, been flown to Europe, Puerto Rico, and many other places to play private parties, and done studio and production work in Philadelphia, New York and Nashville. On top of all this, he’s a songwriter with major label and television credits and has performed voiceovers for commercials animated characters on Sesame Street and Electric Company.

His repertoire is vast, and he possesses a working knowledge of jazz, Broadway show tunes, big band, swing, ballroom dance, rock and roll, reggae, R&B, country and numerous ethnic styles, including but not limited to Greek, Armenian, Latin, Russian, Brazilian, German, Italian, Jewish and French.