In the beginning of 1985 while working on her first solo album, Suzanne Vega played some concerts, accompanied by Frank Christian on acoustic guitar, with whom Suzanne shared the bill.
The first Suzanne Vega band, was formed after the release of the eponymous album "Suzanne Vega", touring from May 1985, first in the United States and later in Europe. This band was constituted by the guitarist Jon Gordon, the bassist Mike Visceglia, and the keyboard player Pete Zale (whose real name is Peter Zinsmeister), who after some first gigs in small venues were joined by the drummer Sue Evans.
This first band, had 2 changes along the eponymous album tour. The first occurred in October 1985, when Anton Sanko replaced Pete Zale, for the European leg of the tour. The second happened in late 1986, when after performing solo in the USA thoughout most of the year, Suzanne Vega reunited the band for a short UK tour in November, with guitarist Marc Shulman replacing Jon Gordon. It was with the lineup of Mike Visceglia, Sue Evans, Anton Sanko and Marc Shulman, that Suzanne can be seen in the video Live In The Royal Albert Hall, recorded in November 1986.
In 1987 Suzanne Vega recorded and released "Solitude Standing", which, unlike the previous album was recorded as a band effort, and not by session musicians. The band, who would also be playing in the subsequent world tour, was by then Mike Visceglia, Anton Sanko, Marc Shulman and the new drummer, Stephen Ferrera, who had replaced Sue Evans for the album recording. From September these musicians were joined by Shawn Colvin in backing vocals.
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After some few shows in 1988, Suzanne Vega reunited her band, in the Summer of 1989, to try out live some new material to be included in her following album. Once again the strategy was to take the live band to the studio, and the new change was again in behind the drum kit, where the stool was taken by Frank Vilardi. This band did 1990's world tour supporting the release of the album "Days Of Open Hand", and 1991's Summer festivals. |
| 1992 was the year of the release of "99.9°F°", an album who counted with the production of Mitchel Froom, and a big number of session musicians on its recording. The first promoting shows took place in the same year, with Suzanne playing solo. The real tour started only in 1993. Mike Visceglia on bass, Marc Shulman on guitar, and Frank Vilardi on drums, were joined by Steve Gaboury on keyboards, for the US starting leg of the tour. |
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This lineup changed again on April, for the European leg, with Mitchel Froom replacing Steve Gaboury, and Mike Visceglia being replaced by Zev Katz. This band toured until July 1993.
After 2 years with no proper touring, but only some shows, Suzanne Vega released "Nine Objects of Desire" in 1996, once again produced by Mitchel Froom, making use once again of innumerous session musicians. The album was first tried out in September, in a small circuit of radio shows. Suzanne was then accompanied by Mike Visceglia on bass, Mitchel Froom on keyboards and Jerry Marotta on drums.
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The proper tour started in October 1996,
with a full band: Mike
Visceglia (bass), Mitchel
Froom (keyboards), Steve
Donnelly (guitar), Pete
Thomas (drums). The tour lasted until the beginning
of 1997. From May 1997 Suzanne continued to play live, but appearing solo, or only accompanied by Mike Visceglia on bass, in what would be the beginning of the duo's acoustic tours. |
The duo played in the US, some European Summer festivals, traveling for the first time to Brazil, and returning to Japan at the end of the year. The same happened in 1998, with Suzanne Vega and Mike Visceglia playing only sporadically.
| In 1999 Suzanne Vega started the year performing solo in support of her recently published book "The Passionate Eye", in book signings in bookshops. Later in the year Suzanne resumed the duo format concerts, playing in the USA and Europe. In 2000 the duo played in Japan and Europe, with Mike Visceglia replaced by Richard Gates in the European concerts of June. Suzanne closed the year playing alone in booksigning concerts in Italy. |
 Photo by Hugo Westerlund |
 Photo by Dave Hammar |
2001 was the year a new album was promised. However, until the Summer, Suzanne kept the duo format with Mike Visceglia, already trying some new songs both in the USA and in Europe. In October, after the release of the album "Songs In Red And Gray", a new Suzanne Vega band was formed chosen from musicias featured in the album: Mike Visceglia on bass, Gerry Leonard on guitar and Doug Yowell on drums. The new band played in the end of 2001 in the USA and Europe from the end of 2001 to the April 2002. |
After this period Gerry Leonard left the band, to be replaced by Billy Masters, from June 2002. Whether as duo or as a 4-piece band, Suzanne continued to tour until September. The only lineup exception was the replacement of Doug Yowell, in one single show, by Steve Hass.
| In 2003 Suzanne decided for the release of the best of collection "Retrospective". The collection was promoted with United States and European shows from April to August. The band was the same from before, but with the impediment of Mike Visceglia in the first US leg, the bass place was taken alternately by Zev Katz and Richard Gates. From June, it was already Mike Visceglia who joined Billy Masters and Doug Yowell, first in Europe and then in the return to the USA. The same band continued touring in 2004. |
 Photo by Mark |
2007 was a new album year: "Beauty & Crime", which made Suzanne return to stage with a new live band.