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At age 17, Denine, from 12th Street and Oregon Avenue, was seeing her dreams come true.
“It’s funny because there was a demo out — I made it in someone’s basement — of [Bette Midler’s] ‘Wind Beneath my Wings.’ Gino came across the demo, at 17 I had met him,” Denine said of her now ex-husband but still close friend. “An independent label backed my first record, put it out and then Viper/Metro picked it up.
“From that point on it was full steam ahead.”
Touring, concerts and Billboard-topping singles were a taste of the glitz and glamour Denine — who only goes by her first name since starting ‘in the biz’ — was going to have. When her son, Gino Jr., was diagnosed with autism at three-and-a-half years old, the engine propelling her career forward began to stutter. Later, when her second son, Michael, was diagnosed with the same disease, it all came to a screeching halt
“It was very hard to balance both — I needed to work and I needed to maintain certain things and insurance does not cover everything,” Denine said. “For me, I needed to do this not only for him but for me. I did maintain my career for a while. He was 7 years old when I had Michael — then you have two children. It was too difficult when Michael was diagnosed at 1 year old, he showed signs faster.
“When I had my second son, I decided to kind of pull out of the music business and focus on being with them.”
Denine put down the mic and worked on providing the best care she could for her two sons.
Now, at 37, with a pair of healthy and prospering boys, it’s time to turn the attention back on her.
“I did a meet-and-greet at South Philly Bar & Grill, and Tony and Dana Bruno approached me [about doing a concert]. I was reluctant. I haven’t done a show in over 10 years,” Denine said of the March event at 1235 E. Passyunk Ave.
Putting hesitations aside, Denine began a head-dive back into the scene. Working with producers Mike Rizzo and Steve Migliori in a Cherry Hill, N.J. studio, Denine laid down her first new single, “Shine,” and signed on to do an event May 8 at Chickie’s and Pete’s Play 2, 1526 Packer Ave.
“It is $20 a ticket and it’s sold out. One dollar per ticket is donated to autism Speaks,” Denine, who will be performing her old hits “Baby, I Love You,” “All Cried Out,” “Love of a Lifetime” and her new single “Shine,” said. “Dana approached me about doing it — it was sort of like it’s something I want to do all the time. Any show I do, I’d love to have, even if it’s a dollar a ticket, go to Autism research.
“Not just because my kids are Autistic, but it’s an epidemic now.”
Though the performance is just to “get our feet wet,” Denine, who moved to Jersey when she married her new husband, Vince, three years ago, is excited to be playing to a hometown crowd in a local landmark (which was generously donated by owner Pete Ciarrocchi for the event).
“That was where everything started. I have the most amazing family and friends in Philadelphia and in New Jersey, but I love South Philly.”
Denine Lattanzo was born to parents Susan and Frank Jr. in the South Philadelphia home where her father still resides today. The middle child between older brother Frank 3rd and younger brother John, Denine started singing at age 6.
“I went to Girard Academic Music Program because it focused more on the music theory of things. I thought it was great,” Denine said of her high school days at 22nd and Ritner streets. “This is what I’ve done my whole life and loved and I never had pushy parents or stage parents.”
In fact, Denine’s father required she finish high school before signing a record deal, which is what she did. However, once the wheels of the music career got turning, Denine knew she was doing what she was born to do.
“The hometown stations, Q102, that station was my saving grace. But if you don’t have a good record they aren’t going to play it.” Denine said. “‘I Remember You’ was the one that broke the Billboard Hot-100. From a small indie label that I was on, for it to break Billboard, that was something.”
Pregnant with her first son, she recorded several more records and was told when Gino Jr. was almost a month old that her success meant she needed to get ready to go on tour.
“I did it in a timely way. I made it where I wasn’t away from my son longer than I needed to be,” Denine said.
The fun stopped when Gino Jr.’s vocabulary began to regress and Denine took him to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where a doctor diagnosed him with Autism, an early onset developmental disorder that affects children’s ability to establish social and communication skills.
“Autism was not something that was familiar at that time. The only thing I knew at that point of autism was the movie ‘Rain Man’ and I’m thinking, ‘Oh no!’,” Denine said of the 1988 Oscar-winning film featuring Dustin Hoffman.
Currently, an estimated 1.5 million Americans are affected by the umbrella of classifications under the autism spectrum of disorders. However, little is known of the diseases’ cause and early detection, which results in cognitive therapies to improve growing children’s skill sets, is the focus of current treatment methods.
“Maybe because I was young and naïve, but I said, ‘no way, I’m not settling for that answer,’” Denine said of early doctors’ insistence Gino Jr., now 16, would never speak normally. “He, God bless him, today, to look at him, you would never even know. He moved from full-blown autism to Asperger’s syndrome.
“He performed in the school play and he was outstanding. This is a kid that they told me wouldn’t talk and here he is on stage — and on his own.”
Seeing her sons progress well has let Denine focus on her passion and former career, which her mother urged her to continue.
“My mother would constantly say to me, ‘You lost something because you don’t sing anymore.’ My mother stressed that to me up until the day she died,” Denine said.
“Even if it was just for me, not for money or to get on the radio — my mother felt like I needed to do it.”
The cosmic pieces pulled together, starting from the meet-and-greet in March and progressing to laying down the first track, “Shine” — two weeks ago.
“My older son, he just thinks it’s the coolest thing,” Denine said.
In attendance this Saturday will be her father, two brothers, extended family members, neighbors and perhaps the two most important critics: Gino Jr. and her mother, in spirit.
“I’m excited to perform, I’m nervous because it’s been a long time and it’s something that I’ve always loved to do,” she said. “I’ve been given a second chance and I’m going to take it for whatever it’s worth and just run with it.
“If my mother has anything to do with it, I think I’ll be alright.”
To donate on behalf of Denine’s kids, visit Team Double Trouble at Autism Speaks, or find Denine on Facebook.
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