Robbie Mangiardi grew up in the New York City metropolitan area with eight brothers and sisters. He didn’t pick up the guitar and start writing until college, and though he never stopped writing and playing smaller venues, he made little attempt to get his songs out into the world.

The story of his early years reads like a script: Son of a heart surgeon plays coffee houses, does odd jobs, acts a little, slips into heroin addiction, jails and halfway houses, gets clean and, in 2000, records a jazz CD, Deep In The Black.

A few years ago, however, his friend, drummer Pete DeCoste (Pinetop Perkins, Patricia Vonne), brought a few of Robbie’s songs to legendary musician, songwriter and producer Herb Pedersen, who then enlisted his own Desert Rose band to record them. Mangiardi is now playing select venues around Los Angeles as they open up, finally with the intention of sharing his music.

Mangiardi told Elmore the story of the video’s conception: “I composed ‘The People You Love’ in 2019 in LA, and to be honest, it started as a song to myself. I was always a moving target and I knew that I had reconcile the fact that at times, I was not the most accessible person I could have been. After you are gone, the only thing the matters is how kind you were to those people who were right in front of you when you were here. It’s a call for the power and great value of kindness in these crazy times we have found ourselves in.

“I conceived the video for ‘The People You Love’ and is my first-ever music video. I shot most all moving footage on an iPhone12, and about 85% of the still photos are also my original photography, also shot with an iPhone. There are a few stock bits from as well as green screen sequences shot with a Sony A-7 by JJ Keopraseuth. It was edited by Sam Lasko here in Los Angeles.

“Many shots are of friends and family. The final shot is at gravesite of my younger sister, who died from cancer more than a decade ago, flanked by her dog.”

“The People You Love” is soon to be followed up with an EP of the same name.

Learn more about Robbie Mangiardi HERE

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