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08/08/2018 08:30 AMA lot has changed in the music business over the past 40 years, but Vinnie Carr’s act isn’t one of them. He’s been coming to North Haven’s concert series for many years, bringing the same tunes that got him started with his first band in 1966.
It began while he was in the Army. While he was home, his mother brought him to a favorite music venue. Vinnie got to know the band so well, that those musicians became that first band.
Even before his real start in the ‘60s, Vinnie was interested in music. He started on the accordion when he was a kid, but has since moved to the keyboard.
“The accordion was associated with polka bands and I wasn’t a polka band,” says Vinnie. “But I was successful with the accordion, too.”
As a singer and a keyboardist, Vinnie has played all over Connecticut. He performs the music of singers like Glen Miller, Dean Martin, and Frank Sinatra.
“I love the music of the ‘40s, ‘50s, and ‘60s,” he says. “I love it. That’s why I don’t change. I stick with the old songs.”
Sticking with oldies music has kept Vinnie popular over the years. He’s played on town greens, in senior centers, at weddings, and even for a few presidential candidates.
Vinnie’s career really began to take off in the 1970s, sometime after he finished his three year stint as a New Haven police officer. He performed at New Haven’s Wooster Street feast for the first time in 1975.
“I looked out on the audience and I saw a sea of people,” he says. “I couldn’t believe it. These people came to see me?”
During this time, Vinnie was playing two to three shows a day, working all week. He started out playing in lounges and nightclubs, though today he prefers playing on town greens, senior centers, and nursing homes.
This year, Vinnie kicked off North Haven’s Music Under the Stars concert series, which continues on the green every Tuesday at 7 p.m. until Aug. 28.
One of his fondest memories performing occurred one night on the North Haven Green, where he’s performed many times.
It was before a show, when someone came to inform Vinnie that an old friend wanted to visit with him. He was a blind man.
“That one concert made me feel real good, that I did something nice for a friend,” he says. “I was grateful that he came to hear. He can’t see me, but he came to hear me.”
Forming connection like that is a part of the sense of camaraderie with the audience that Vinnie likes so much about performing live. Though he plays less than he used to, Vinnie says that he’s still excited when he plays in front of a crowd.
“When I see them dancing, singing, they’re responding to what I’m doing which makes me feel good” he says.
Vinnie lives in West Haven with his wife, Denise, who sings with him on stage occasionally. His daughter, Daniella, studies social work at Southern Connecticut University and his son, Vinnie Jr., teaches at Live Oaks School in Milford.
Vinnie says that his “first love” was music, but his family is what is most important to him now. He’s proud of his children.
He’s also proud of his career as a musician. He says that if he had to do it again, he wouldn’t want to change anything.
But he’s slowed down now. Today, Vinnie picks and chooses which gigs he’ll play. He says that most of his work comes from word of mouth.
“I love being out in front of a live audience,” he says. “I just don’t love it every day anymore.”
Vinnie says that while the music he plays “is fading away,” he doesn’t let the changing music scene bother him.
“If I didn’t realize the change, well, then I’d be a sad person,” he says. “There’s got to be change. I accepted it. I know there’s got to be people to take over.”
But Vinnie says he’s still going strong. He’s not ready to stop performing yet. Just as he plays every year on the North Haven Green, Vinnie plays at East Haven, too. He’ll be on the East Haven Green for its Senior Day celebration on Saturday, Aug. 18.
“As long as I get to entertain my people and they’re happy, I’m happy,” he says.