Singer/musician Jeff Scott Soto has performed with some of the greats. Journey. Alice Cooper. Yngwie Malmsteen. On the silver screen, he shared vocal duties with Steelheart’s Michael Matijevic for the Mark Wahlberg film “Rock Star.”
Since 2008, he has lent his vocals to Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s West Coast touring group.
He will be with the TSO when it performs at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 30, at the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix.
Soto was recruited by TSO guitarist/live musical director Al Pitrelli; Soto started with TSO in 2007.
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“Al was a really strong presence with the TSO,” Soto said. “In 1990, he was the musical director with Alice Cooper. Al had been watching me.
“He said, ‘My boss wants to meet you.’ They went through everybody in their Rolodex. Next thing I know I’m flying to Florida to meet Paul [O’Neill, the now-late producer] and I working with him.’”
O’Neill told Soto he was not just a session singer. He was going to represent the story. “Tell a story and people can’t see you. I had to translate that into vocals.
“I just absorbed the character then in the studio.”
TSO rehearses at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, where it performs its each show. The band stays 9 minutes away in Omaha, Nebraska.
Working with TSO was a new challenge and Soto had a few reservations about taking it on.
“I told him, ‘I have to be honest. This isn’t really for me; it’s not in my wheelhouse.’ Al Pitrelli has been a friend for over 35 years. But I’m so lucky to be a part of this. I’ve grown so vastly.”
Annually, TSO subtly makes changes to the staging, the truss and all the doodads. The pyro always found new ways of seeing it.
The singers are “allowed” to sing on the wings. With other acts, those areas are reserved for headliners. This year, the women and men are together, the orchestra is split in two.
“They have so many new and interesting ideas to make the show phenomenal,” Soto said. “TSO creatively uses state-of-the-art technology. Something in me wanted to represent him and TSO.”
Soto was born in New York and when he was 8, his family moved to Los Angeles. He tried London, Colorado and Florida, but Los Angeles was always in his heart.
“I stopped trying to replace what home is for me,” said Soto, who is inspired by Earth Wind and Fire, Motown, Sam Cooke and Otis Redding.
He unveiled that he is the oldest singer in TSO at age 60.
“Thank God my family gave me naturally curly here and no need for hair dye here,” he said with a laugh.
Soto is known for his prolific songwriting and the ability to bop back and forth between bands.
He performed with Sons of Apollo, a Mike Portney project, and he returned to Dream Theater, but it is on ice for a moment.
He is continuing to perform with Saigon Kick’s lead guitarist Jason Bieler, whom he has known since 2019. Working with Bieler is on Soto’s bucket list.
“Passionate” is not a word that Soto would use to describe his feelings about music.
“It’s always been there,” he said. “It’s like breathing, eating or sleeping. I am beyond lucky to have people in the community do this for mine. That, in itself, is an achievement. I am beyond lucky to have people in my community to do this. I will continue to do what I’m doing and I’m still hungry for it that’s my job.”
Information
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 30
Mortgage Matchup Center, 201 E. Jefferson Street, Phoenix
Tickets start at $75 at ticketmaster.com
