ERNA
Salvatore

• 1. Early life
• 2. Musical career
• 2.1. Solo work

Salvatore Paul Erna Jr. is an American singer, musician, and songwriter, best known as the vocalist and rhythm guitarist for rock band Godsmack. He is also a harmonica player, drummer, and percussionist, performing these on albums and at live shows. He was ranked 47th in the Top 100 Heavy Metal Vocalists by Hit Parader.

Early life

Sully Erna was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He began playing drums at the age of three. His father, Salvatore Erna Sr., was a trumpet player from Sicily and would rehearse in the basement where Sully would watch. His great-uncle was a famous composer in Sicily. At the age of 11, Erna discovered that it was easier for him to listen to something and play it than read sheet music. He stopped taking lessons and practiced at home, rehearsing to records by Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Motörhead, and Rush.

Musical career

At 14, Dave Vose became Erna's new instructor. He signed his first record deal in 1993 with a band called Strip Mind. Their debut album What's in Your Mouth sold fewer than 50,000 units. Some of the band members (mainly the singer) and Erna didn't get along, and Erna was booted out. They split-up shortly after.

In Godsmack concerts, Erna plays the bongos and a large drum set, staging a drumming duel known as "Batalla de los Tambores" with drummer Shannon Larkin. This battle has become a staple of the band's live show. He is also a harmonica player as present on the Godsmack song "Shine Down".

In 2010, Erna released his first solo album Avalon. The album took seven years to complete and differed stylistically from Godsmack. Erna wrapped up his acoustic tour with one final show at The House of Blues in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 28.

Erna has also worked with his local music scene. In April 2005, he participated in New Hampshire's Battle of the Bands Competition. The winner (a band called Zion who hails from Salem) had the opportunity to record a demo at Erna's California studio.

Solo work

Erna told Glam-Metal.com that doing his first solo shows were "extremely nerve-wracking", adding, "My first show, I was really, really nervous. Honestly, I haven't been that nervous since I was, I don't know, maybe 10 years old at a talent show or something." Erna kicked off his first solo acoustic trek on May 1 in Niagara Falls, New York and closed it out on May 31 in Las Vegas. The shows have combined Godsmack songs with a few new originals and covers ranging from the Beatles to Alice in Chains to the theme from Love Story.

Regarding how he went about selecting the material used for his solo show, Erna said, "I wanted to stick a couple of originals in and try them out because there was a couple of songs that were done on the piano or the guitar that I wrote that I don't think I would use on a GODSMACK record", he said. "For example, 'Eyes of a Child' and 'Until Then'. It was a great opportunity to showcase that and see if I can hit home with the people on those two pieces. Those songs are the most emotional pieces of the evening. One song is about children born with or dying from AIDS and the other is about a tribute to the troops of the United States Armed Forces."

Erna told The Pulse of Radio that playing some new material live is a good way for him to test out songs that might not work for Godsmack. "We're all musicians and we like to write music and not necessarily rock all the time", he said. "So, you know, if I sit home and I'm writing on the piano and sometimes just cool songs are written that don't necessarily fit maybe what you do with Godsmack, but you don't wanna not record them."

Erna stated at the time that he planned to work on his first solo album.

On March 4, 2009, Blabbermouth.net reported that Erna had completed work on his first solo album, Avalon, released September 14, 2010. Although, the single Sinner's Prayer will be on radio stations and on sale everywhere August 3, 2010. Erna described the album as being "a very different kind of sounding record", and "a huge departure from anything I've ever done." The album includes Lisa Guyer on vocals, Tim Theriault on guitars and vocals, Chris Decato on keyboards, midi and vocals, Chris Lester on acoustic guitars and bass, classically trained Irina Chirkova of Bulgaria on Cello, Niall Gregory of Ireland Dead Can Dance on drums and percussion and David Stephanelli on drums and percussion.

Three days later, Rockerrazzi.com posted an interview with Erna in which he said that the record "should be out in the next two months". In further describing the album's sound, Erna said that "it's very eclectic" and "tribal" with "a lot of hand drumming" and "beautiful piano compositions". He also stated that he "worked with a percussion session for Dead Can Dance" and that the album will feature Lisa Guyer, who had performed backing vocals for the song "Hollow" on Godsmack's previous album.

Erna's debut solo album is titled Avalon, and was released on September 14, 2010. He released a live DVD, Avalon Live, in fall of 2012.

Erna released a very special limited-edition Avalon box set in November as well as a DVD of the Erna performing songs from his debut solo album, Avalon, on December 16, 2011 at The Wilbur Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts. The collection includes the double-disc Avalon Live, The Making of Avalon Live 40 minute documentary, The Journey to Avalon documentary, and a DVD of bloopers and outtakes. The box set also contains a pair of CDs – the original Avalon album and the Avalon Live show recording. Other items that are part of the collection include two CDs, a book, T-shirt, guitar pick, poster, incense, etc., and a custom metal Sully Erna engraved metal box with a suede lining. Only 5,000 copies were available. A single disc standard and Blu-ray version of the show was released on December 18, 2012.

In an interview with HardDrive, Erna mentioned that he will do another solo album; although, details have not been revealed yet. In July 2016, it was announced that Erna will release his second solo album Hometown Life on September 30, 2016. The album has since been released. Hometown Life includes a song "Turn It Up", for which Erna invited his father into the recording studio to play trumpet on the track. His father performed the song live with Erna at a Sully Erna solo show.