For the past four decades he has been doing his best to keep the spirit of the 50s alive. As a teenager, he played New Jersey's Palisades Park and appeared on legendary disc jockey Murray the K's rock 'n' roll shows. He's since had a recording career that includes performances with some of the most celebrated names in doo-wop.While Katz may have remained largely anonymous to the public, he is well known in the industry.
Richard Nader, the oldies concert promoter, said, "He's so damned good. When I first heard Joel on a recording, I was so impressed that I kept it my car for weeks, that's how much I liked his voice".
With a strong, smooth tenor voice, Joel fronted the Autumns, the Wizards, the Platinums, the Connotations, Twilight and Ronnie I's Cliftonaires. He sang lead with the Del-Satins, and appeared with an all-star oldies lineup at Radio City Music Hall in 2001.
Just last Christmas, he collaborated with Maestro, Jay, and Larry Chance of the Earls, to record under the name, 'Santa's Doo-Wop Helpers'. With Maestro, Jay and Chance on background, Joel served as lead tenor. Their classic is "All I Want For Christmas Is You".
The Wizards, with Joel on lead, came about in 1981 as a studio project. The Wizards single, Fifties Come Alive had the distinction of being 'Pick Hit of the Week' in Billboard Magazine on December 19, 1981.
Joel is first tenor lead in the Joe Favale Emotions of "Echo" fame. He also fills in at first tenor with Eddie Pardocchi's Five Discs and both groups travel the east coast with concerts to rave reviews.
Joel Katz became an international star in 2001. He was invited to perform in front of over 2000 die hard Doo Wop fans in Hamburg, Germany. To Joel's credit in his busy and illustrious recording career, is his other studio project, Joel and the Dymensions. Their first LP and CD came to fruition in 1991. Some of the backup vocalists are Bobby Jay (the Laddins and Teenagers) and Johnny Maestro (the Crests and Brooklyn Bridge). producer. Johnny Maestro produced the second CD, New Dimensions. Maestro also engineered many of Joel's projects including the Twilight CD of 1985.
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