A special "thank you" to my daughter Lily for bringing me joy, and to my parents for surrounding me with the most incredible music all my life, so that it was in my bones. And to my late Grandfather, Jack Gottesman, a Vaudevillian performer, who passed along to me the genes of an entertainer.

Thank you to Hunter Sullivan for his mentorship and support; Pianist Scott Bucklin, for his encouragement and mentorship; Sandaga Jazz's owners Darryl Thomas and Chuck Knowles, for giving me my Jazz home and family in Dallas for years, and a place where I felt loved and among friends; and the incomparable Saxophonist Shelley Carroll for providing inspiration and a place to go and feed my hungry soul on so many Monday nights in Dallas, especially in my struggling early years here. 

Born and raised in Manhattan, Brett Laquercia lived on the Upper West Side all his life until 2004, when he moved to Dallas, TX for the birth of his daughter.  Brett is devoted, and is raising his daughter as a part-time single father.

Brett began singing almost as soon as he could talk, at age 3. He was a singer and bongo player. In the early 1980s he performed as a singer in high school at New Lincoln School in Manhattan.  At that time Brett also studied acting and music at the Neighborhood Playhouse, and piano with the renowned pianist and author Paul Sheftel, who has headlined at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center.  Also in the 80's Brett received private voice training from the former Juilliard teacher, "Madame" Solarz, and in the '90s and early '00s he trained as a jazz vocalist with Metropolitan Opera and Broadway singer/actress Claudia Catania, as well as the vocal coach Ted Muzio.  Brett also studied jazz vocals regularly for years at the Barry Harris workshops in NYC. 

Brett began playing drums, as a lead singer in a NYC jam band at age 15, and picked up the electric bass at age 19, which he continues to play today. His bass is a 1960 Gibson EB0

Brett sang as a baritone in the Hunter College Choir for two years, sang in the Hunter College Jazz Band for one year, and was the Bassist for the College's student-lounge house Rock and Roll band in 1991.  Also during this time, he played in a small, short-lived project called "Side III" where Brett played on stage at the famed Village Gate. 

In 1993 and 1994 Brett was the Bass guitarist and a Singer with an original rock band called The Tao, performing in bars and clubs all over Manhattan. 

From 1995-1997 Brett was the Singer and Bass guitarist in a successful acoustic blues and rag duo in NYC called Brett and Me, playing songs by Robert Johnson, Rev. Gary Davis, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, etc.  They were regulars at the historic, Ludlow Street Cafe on Manhattan's Lower East Side, and also at O'Flaherty's, a mainstay on Manhattan's Restaurant Row in the Theater District.

Brett later briefly had his own rock, soul, R&B and funk band in Manhattan.

In his last project in NYC Brett was the the lead male vocalist in the band Motown-inspired group "Hitsville," a ten band with three horns, playing regularly at Le Bar Bat, the Lions Head on Bleecker Street, and other long established venues  Hitsville was led by the late Bill Bennett, the founder of the famed Off Wall Street Jam.  Hitsville was Bill's personal project, and it was an honor to be asked by him to be the lead male vocalist.

Brett grew up in an incredibly hip musical home.  His parents were the original Mambo Kings from the Palladium days with Tito Puente, Machito, Jose Curbelo, Cal Tjader, Mongo Santamaria, Willie Bobo, etc.  Brett's mom is from Queens, and his dad is from Brooklyn.  His biological father was born in Buenos Aires, grew up in Brooklyn and took Brett's mom to Woodstock.  Both Brett's dads were latin and ballroom dance instructors back in the day, and his mother auditioned for shows on Broadway.  Brett's mother and daughter are both songbirds with beautiful voices.

As a child, Brett would sit on the living room floor with the record jackets while albums like Aretha Franklin's "Young Gifted and Black," Stevie Wonder's "Innervisions" and "Talking Book," Al Green's "Let's Stay Together," and Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" were spinning on the turntable, as well as Ray Charles, Crosby, Stills and Nash, early Chicago, Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and others, Carol King, Paul Simon, Santana, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Phoebe Snow, Latin jazz legends Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Willie Bobo, Cal Tjader, and an endless incredible long list of artists. The Broadway production of the Wiz and it's musical score were also well worn in the household.  That show's star, Stephanie Mills (as Dorothy) was a student of Brett's father in High School, and the family met her back stage on Broadway in 1975.

Brett's other musical influences include: Jimmy Smith, Kenny Burrell, George Benson, Billy Preston, Leon Russel, Donnie Hathaway, Mose Allison, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Lena Horn, Sara Vaughn, Tony Bennett, Jimmy Witherspoon, Vince Guaraldi, Horace Silver, Cannonball Adderley, the Grateful Dead, Otis Redding, Elton John, Freddy King, Muddy Waters, the Allman Brothers, Howlin' Wolf, and so many more.