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Barbara Unger-Wertico: Composer & Keyboardist
Bio:
Drawing on her years of classical training at the University of Illinois, Barb performed live with The Buckinghams in the early 1980s and later worked as a soloist prior to joining the band, R-Gang. She also appeared around Chicagoland with bands such as Better Off, Under Fire, and Red Siren. In 1993, Barb toured with renowned jazz guitarist Pat Metheny throughout Europe, Israel, South America and the U.S., playing rhythm guitar, keyboards, percussion and vocals on Metheny's "Secret Story" tour.
Her keyboard work can be heard on the song, "Beyond Our Wildest Dreams" [Listen], in the 1991 movie, Delirious, starring John Candy. She also played keyboards on jazz guitarist John Moulder's 1993 CD, Awakening; on her husband's (drummer Paul Wertico) 1993 CD, The Yin And The Yout, and 2004 CD, StereoNucleosis; on Mecca's 2002 self-titled CD; on Greek guitarist Lefteris Christofis' 2004 CD, Nous Icons; on Allegra Rosenberg & Talia Wertico's 2004 CD, Songs For The Swing Set, featuring Paul and Barb's daughter's, Talia; and on a 2005 CD, The Magical Makeilah, by the Beth Emet Youth Choir, a vocal group that Barb leads.
Barb also has co-written music with bassist Bill Syniar and Jim Peterik (leader of the famed bands, The Ides of March and Survivor). Their initial effort, entitled "Under the Spell" [Listen], appeared on The Doobie Brothers' 1991 CD, Brotherhood. Other compositions by this songwriting team appear on a 2002 CD by the band, Mecca, including the songs, "Blinded By Emotion" [Listen] and "You Still Shock Me" [Listen], and on a 2003 CD by the band, Khymera, including the song, "Living With A Memory" [Listen]. Barb and Bill also appeared on Paul's 1993 CD, The Yin And The Yout. In addition, their music has been used commercially, including being used as the theme song for the Sport Channel's The Doug Buffone Show. Barb and Bill are also mentioned in the book, Songwriting For Dummies, which was written by Jim Peterik.
Barb and Paul also compose together and their songs appear not only on Paul's CDs, The Yin And The Yout and StereoNucleosis, but also on the 1999 CD, State Of The Union, by the award-winning jazz trio, Union, as well as on the 2002 CD, Nastroje, by the legendary Eastern European progressive rock band, SBB.
One of her latest compositions made the list of Deepak Chopra's Artist Picks: "Love Can Conquer Hate" [Listen].
Barb keeps busy doing session work, playing keyboards on recordings for such artists as The David Carl Band, Ondavon, Shakshuka, Doctor Doug & Bobbie Stuart, Jeffrey Klepper, Ronit Ben-Arie, and Arik Luck, as well as singing background vocals on recent CDs by Scott Earl Holman.
In addition to being an accomplished musician and composer, Barb became a certified Pilates instructor in 1999 and she is certificated through Romana Kryzanowka, who was a direct disciple of Joseph Pilates. She continues her studies taking courses through the Upledger Institute in CranioSacral Therapy and the Center for Integrative Manual Therapy in myofascial release and lymph drainage. Barb is a Level 3 MELT instructor, trained by Sue Hitzmann, and is also an Independent BEMER Distributor. For more info about rehabilitation and fitness, visit re:fit, inc.