Biography

One of Greg Lato's ambitions for this new record, and for his pop career in general, is to be the kind of artist capable of indulging all of his creative influences, to change his colors with each project without losing his cache as a true indie pop artist. Well, with his latest EP and video, Lato just took a huge step in that direction. According to Motif magazine, Lato's "Rhode Island's next great pop recording artist."

The new EP, aptly titled Do The Best With What I Got, recorded mostly in LA with co-writer/producer Jim McGorman (Avril Lavigne, Weezer, Cher) and co-writer/producer Steve Catizone over a two-month period, is the sound of Lato indulging the entire spectrum of his creative senses, from dance grooves to silky smoothness to proud power pop with hooks the size of Hoboken.

Compared to his last recording, Monday Morning Breakdown, most of Lato's latest EP has a more programmed approach, though mixed with real instrumentation for a punchier indie pop feel. "I was actually going for more of a 1982 pop sound mixed with modern touches," says Lato. "Where the last album felt more like the moody '70s, this one's closer to the upbeat vibe of the '80s."

Songs like "Just Another Goodbye," "Modern Howard Hughes," and "2 People" combine the polished approach of Idol-era pop with just enough organic roughness around the edges to make it super-credible. "Celebrity," a song co-written with McGorman, features the same homemade pop magic. "Jim and I have a lot of the same influences, so we were on the same page the whole way," says Lato, recounting the story of "Celebrity." "We were gonna go with a ballad for one of the songs on the record, but at the last minute I introduced a melody I had been working on for a while. He contributed some ideas on the spot to enhance it and the song was born. This was a magical moment during the sessions, because we were really excited about what we had come up with. These spontaneous bursts of creativity are what I live for when making a record. It's the reason why I love what I do."

The video for "Just Another Goodbye" has also been gaining traction and accumulating views in big chunks on Youtube and Facebook, and is being aired on TV networks in USA and Canada (HD Net and the Cool TV). Like its predecessors "Beautiful Woman" and "Monday Morning Breakdown," "Just Another Goodbye" boasts a brilliant arrangement-strings, vocal harmonies, modern tech flourishes-to go along with its elaborate videography, and one uber-sexy model. The song has also recently been placed in the upcoming feature film '16-Love', starring Lindsey Shaw from Pretty Little Liars and Chandler Massey from Days of our Lives.

Lato, born in Providence, grew up listening to the much older pop sounds of the '70s and '80s (Hall and Oates, Todd Rundgren, the Cars) and has been a lover of sweet-sounding pop all of his life. But with the new EP, the entertaining new video, and a handful of gigs coming up, it's pretty clear that Lato has kicked his pop infatuation up a notch, ushering an irresistible, vintage sound into the modern era.