was limited to just one block on Adelaide Street off Franklin Avenue," Tony remembers.

By 1990, both Hartford’s Italian Festival and the music scene itself had changed. Tony continues, "I started a part time DJ service called La Famiglia Productions and performed with New Jersey's Morenzo Fruzzetti and Connecticut's Tony Reale performing at weddings, banquets and nearly every Italian festival in the Northeast."

Tone Zone president, Gary Byron recalls, "In 1999 Tone Zone was seeking to recruit talent, so I went scouting. I stopped by the Ramada in East Hartford [now Sheraton] and saw an enormous amount of people dancing in their banquet room. The DJ was not what some would call interactive. No props, no bells or whistles but he did have a great personality and the crowd loved him. After speaking with Tony and

listening to his slight Italian accent through this enormously friendly smile, I knew we had to recruit him." Petrella picks it up from here, "I remember that night. I enjoyed talking with Gary and took his business card but I really wasn't interested in working for any company. Over the next year I kept hearing the name Tone Zone come up in conversations about DJs. I finally said to myself, I have to call them. Because if their reputation is true, then I belong there." But it took another six months before Petrella would make that call. "Between my first and second interview with Tony," Byron says, "I did a little research on him throughout the Italian community. Come to find out, this guy is a celebrity! I mean, if you are from a true Italian family I will bet that someone in your family knows who he is." It was Petrella’s second interview, however, that sealed the deal with Tone Zone. Petrella goes on to say, "Gary’s initial intention with me was just to expand into

the Italian market. But since the line between Italian and Spanish music and their language is very thin, I'm able to do any variation of Italian, Spanish, and American events. I may speak fluent Italian, but my Spanish and English are near perfect and my music library is complete in all three." Byron concludes, "Yeah, that was my biggest surprise! His language is versatile plus his Italian, Spanish and American music libraries all run very deep. He has Italian and Spanish music you can’t buy anywhere in the United States! Tony fills a niche with Tone Zone because he can do whatever percentage of these formats of music the client asks for. He’s like getting three separate DJs for the price of one."

But it doesn't end with Petrella’s diverse music library and his ability to speak three languages. His equipment is always on the cutting edge of technology

Tony Petrella has been on the region’s Italian music scene for more than twenty-five years. Born in Italy, Petrella moved to Connecticut in 1972. Knowing he wanted a career in the music industry, he began work as a sound man for notable Italian groups during the late 70s and early 80s. His "ear" for music led him to work with major Italian performers such as AI Martino. His work for such big named Italian stars eventually led him to his own band playing countless weddings, banquets and Italian Festivals. In fact, Petrella is a charter member of Hartford's Italian Festival. "Being one of the original organizers of the first Italian Festival back in 1978, I can remember when it