Spreading the word of giving back and universal love through music and philanthropy, SohoJohnny has emerged from the thousands of universes that connect the diamond paved streets, cement façades, and microcosmatic neighborhoods of New York City. Bringing bursts of color and charismatic energy to all he touches, SohoJohnny (aka John Pasquale) has become an explosive medium of music and dance creating a new revolution of sound. Using his love of music as a vehicle to promote joy and his efforts to raise money for those causes that require or deserve aid, SohoJohnny is in the midst of producing an astounding project benefiting COVID-19 first responders.
Along with some of the legends of music including Pink Floyd’s Saxophonist Scott Page and Stephen Perkins, drummer of Jane’s Addiction a new concept in music and dance will soon be unleashed in a brave new world.
You have a reputation of giving back via music. What inspires you to do this?
I’m inspired through an innate thrust stemming from my youth of providing Entertainment and seeing the response from people and their smiles. We can’t take on the whole world, so I chose originally the American Cancer Society as a conduit from my own personal experience and loss which was very prevalent starting from my dad and my cousins and the sorrow that my family has experienced. I wanted to mix entertainment with the thrill and the excitement in the receiving of all the joy and the love that you get from the audience in the celebration of life for a good cause to help others.
You are relatively new to the world of entertainment, how are you finding it?
I derive a lot of my energy from an inner passion which I think many artists share. It’s a fundamental alignment with the sense of achievement from creating something and connecting to others in the language of music. To better answer that here is a quote from my website, SohoJohnny.com “The breath of love is spoken from a language of musical expression.” Music is a language. However, unlike the written word music evokes emotions as well as thought.
Are you currently working on any projects?
I’ve been blessed to be surrounded by many talented people from the entertainment business. I attribute that to the philanthropic goals that I believe many of us all share. One major project that I have the privilege of working on is with an extremely talented producer, musician, and technologist Scott Page from Pink Floyd, Supertramp, and Toto. We are working on a worldwide project which I am extremely excited about. Of course, as always given our mutual philosophy of humanity, one of the main underlying themes will be giving back and to bring out in people some of the best that we have inside. We are doing a tribute song as well as augmenting the brand and bringing a high-end department store of talented artists to collaborate in concerts, events, and promotions.
Can you recall a moment that altered the trajectory of your life?
I can think about milestones throughout my life, but I don’t know if there was one pivotal moment. It was kind of an evolution that led me to where I am today. I was a very nervous child. Everybody has their nuances and trials and tribulations because there is no perfect family. In many ways I was blessed. I made it a point when I went to school to really master vocabulary. I made it a point to become more articulate. I would have never been able to speak publicly when I was a kid like I do now. It was that need inside to communicate. There’s something that motivates you to want to communicate, that wants you to say something, or correct something, that wants you to express something to make someone else’s life a little bit different in a positive way. It was like a need to fulfill. That’s how I overcame the fear, the stage fright. It wasn’t about me. When you have stage fright it’s because you are self-conscious because you are thinking of yourself. Not that you’re trying to be selfish but you’re thinking of yourself because you’re worried about how you’re going to look. I guess maybe it’s a sort of vanity or a fear tied to vanity.
But when something is important you have that drive inside you that helps you overcome that. Then you’re not even thinking of yourself and you’re not worried about vanity because it becomes insignificant because you have something to say. You have something that you want to deliver. It’s like when you do something charitable you get love back and that becomes contagious. It makes you want to do more because you want to feel good about yourself. So how can I say there was one pivotal moment. I can’t point exactly to the day but maybe it started from doing the parties, the events….I started to have that love affair with the public and the love of entertaining. There was no exact pivotal moment, it’s always evolving. But it’s always about communication, love and the medium of music, and getting that reciprocity and adoration while knowing that it’s something philanthropic. The fact that you put smiles on peoples’ faces to make them feel good I think that is something that’s a blessing for me.
Knowing what you know now what advice would you give baby Sohojohnyy?
I would probably tell him that the greatest love of all is love and acceptance of yourself because only in that way can you love and achieve love from everyone around you. Once you start communicating love it opens up an entirely different world in people when you relate to them.
The official website for SohoJohnny may be found at https://www.sohojohnny.com