(Photo courtesy of Dana Simone Music)
Getting a music career off the ground on Long Island can be a lonely process filled with frustration and competition. But one trio of local artists are doing what they can to climb the ladder and bring each other up along the way.
Island-born vocalists Dana Simone, Stephanie Lombardo and Krisi Ardito, who hail from Rockville Centre, East Meadow and Huntington respectively, are performing at My Father’s Place on Thursday, March 5 as Triple Play: DSK. Their collaborative effort, named after each of their first initials, isn’t a group performance. Instead, they’re performing as individual artists one after another in the hope that together they can showcase each other and help elevate all their careers.
“We’re just excited,” Simone said. “I’ve never been on a platform like this with different people. We haven’t known each other long, we haven’t gotten to know each other very well but I think because we’re such good people and we’re passionate about what we do, we can be there for each other. We’re not all singing together, but we’re all supporting each other, no matter what we do from here.”
Simone, Lombardo and Ardito have been passionate about music all their lives, but embarked on their careers under different circumstances. The 25-year-old Simone has been singing since she was four years old, cutting her teeth in talent shows and school choruses under the influence of her Juilliard-graduate father. Lombardo got her start playing piano at the age of 3, and landed a gig as a resident keyboardist at the Velvet Underground Exhibit in New York City in 2018. Ardito has sang all her life, but came into performing professionally more after spending years hosting internet radio shows, and released her first single just last year.
That difference in background extends to each artist’s style as well.
“We all have a different flavor,” Ardito said. “We all have a different look and feel to our personalities and our voices, so I think there’s something that everybody can enjoy.”
While Long Island has more cover bands than artists performing original material, the trio hope showcases like theirs might help to shake up the balance of the local music scene.
“I really, really hope that venues like My Father’s Place start popping up all across Nassau and Suffolk County,” Lombardo said. “We need more of this content. We have tons of cover bands on Long Island, but there’s also artists like us that are more original that are yet to be discovered and yet to be given a platform. I think a showcase like ours can spread like wildfire throughout Long Island.”
Triple Play: DSK’s March 5 show at My Father’s Place is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Visit www.shorturl.at/nvGL9 to purchase tickets.
